Plague Journal, Percival
Monday morning breaks with brilliant sunlight. I can hear the voice of our granddaughter, about 9 months old, loudly expressing pre-language delight in another day of life, of shapes, colors, sounds, of endless adventure and opportunity for exploration. May she never lose her voice, misplace her passion.
While preparing breakfast I noticed a wild rabbit had made it’s way to the edge of the patio. I admired the round furry shape of a well adapted herbivore. The rabbit appeared to pause in contentment to munch on a hosta leaf, before continuing on it’s way across our yard. Perhaps it learned that the yard is somewhat safer, than the wild marsh that is yards distant on the other side of the creek. Though in the yard, there are signs of predators too. There is or was a skunk that lived under our storage shed. During winter a predator left signs of it’s presence under our deck. Don’t make the mistake of looking for a paradise without predators!
In stark contrast to the domestic sights and sounds of the day, I retain in memory an account of the interview yesterday which our President had 
with Chris Wallace on Fox News Sunday. The President’s words offered a surreal projection, — of nothing that is connected with reality. The host, Chris Wallace, attempted to counter the President’s false claim that “the U.S. had one of the lowest fatality rates in the world.” When told “that’s not true,” the President segued into blaming the mortality numbers on increased testing, and then went on to blame China.
I was reminded of Franz Kafka’s, The Trial. The protagonist is caught in a nightmarish “reality” condemned without any clue about the charges. The Presidents surreal contentions in the interview were offered with associated disconnects in reasoning. Wallace listening to the litany of surreal statements, must have felt like the one under prosecution in the Kafka story. Language is disconnected from logic and mundane experience.
The President contended that Dr. Anthony S. Fauci, the nation’s top infectious disease expert, was an alarmist. Dr. Fauci is one of the few advisers to the White House who has been unwavering in his adherence to science, unbending in his pessimism about the consequences of an uneven, half measure response to the virus.
This morning, I contrast the sounds of an infant eager to apprehend the world; also the sight of a wild rabbet (I’ll call the rabbit, Percival), authentic in it’s enjoyment of a snack in the relative safety of a backyard, — with the foolish, swaggering, fulminating simulation offered by the President of the United States. Which of these alternative “realities” is apt to support survival?
In which of these would you want to live?
