Yesterday morning we checked out of the hotel in downtown Salt Lake City, and after taking a short Uber ride out to the airport, we flew back to Phoenix. We took separate flights, as we used completely different airlines, since Ginger's flight was paid by the company she works for, whereas I used my never-diminishing Southwest frequent flier miles. Neither of us was looking forward to being back in the heat. We had both enjoyed the perfect temperature of early spring in Utah.
Because we took different flights, I arrived about a half hour before her, and at a different terminal at Sky Harbor. After collecting my bag, I took the sky train out to the economy parking lot that is east of the line of terminals. As soon as I could, I took the escalator down to the ground level, stripping off the mask I had been wearing in the terminal, faithfully obeying the rules there. The signs in the Phoenix airport emphasize that wearing masks is a federal mandate. One can infer much from this in regard to the attitude in Arizona.
Likewise I couldn't help but smirk below my mask at the incessant announcement from Kate Gallego, the mayor of Phoenix. "Masks must be worn at all times in the airport without exception."
"B---sh-t," I muttered. Everyone knows that the statement is false. One can remove one's mask while eating and drinking. One can wash one's face in the restroom.
But Mayor Kate doesn't say this. She says "without exception."It's like setting the speed limit to an absurdly low number so that everyone ignores and becomes a scofflaw. It creates automatic disrespect for the rules in general when they are stated so stupidly. It is one more reason why people have started giving the middle finger to these ridiculous public officials. They can't help but lie, even when stating a rule.
People know it's ridiculous, even the pro-maskers. How do I know this? Because of all them, without exception ignore the equally stupid rule about six feet social distancing, which is also blared over the speakers and in signs at every turn in terminal. We all sit next to each other in the waiting lounges. We sit next to each on the planes. Everyone ignores it because they know it is impossible to fulfill. They wear masks because they can, not because they know it does anything. Underneath it all, we all know it is theater. We all know that we are wearing masks for a reason that has nothing to do with preventing the spread of a disease. Some people are on board with that other reason, and want us to keep wearing masks. They very much want us to obey the people they assert as experts
At the bottom of the escalator I found a bench and sat next to my bags in the shade of the elevated station. A cool breeze swelled up mercifully under the station. Outside the shadow of the station where I sat I could see the brown landscape out to South Mountain. It felt like a perfect welcome back into town.
Something huge is brewing. One can feel it everywhere on our side. Trump is hinting at it. It seems that the Maricopa County audit is at the center of it. But I see it also in the streams from traditional Catholic and Orthodox priests. There is an assumption that what is playing out has a spiritual dimension, and that this dimension is perhaps the essence of what is happening. The Book of Revelation (aka the Apocalypse of St. John) is a popular topic of discussion across the spectrum of online Christendom.
On the earthquake savant Youtube channel that Ginger likes to watch on Chromecast, the host is convinced that great tension is building up on the Pacific plate. Well they always seem to be saying this, but the lack of any aftershocks, even tiny ones, following the 6.2 quake off the coast of Japan has him scratching his head.
Even the alien researchers, none of whom I follow but whose video titles I sometimes see suggested in my Youtube feed, seem to be bubbling with excitement over the question of why the government seems bent on telling us that there are real UFO sightings happening. What does it mean?
Across the spectrum of countercultures there is a growing universal assumption that something massive is about to be unleashed that will bring about sudden, mind-blowing changes in the way of bringing justice.
Today the Governor of Florida basically said enough of this.
It will be a disappointment if something along these lines doesn't come about in the next month or two. But of course who knows. This is all just a feeling, but a shared one. Everyone is waiting. Most of us seem patient because we know somehow that what is going to happen is going to be good.
Can things go out as they have been going/ No, they can't. At least I know this much is true.
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