It was a question I posed in my last entry. I had asked it to myself as we arrived back in the heat of the Valley after descending from the Rim, completing our return from Colorado.
The way I asked the question to myself suggestion the answer would be a void one. It could be answered only by fate and inertia. This is where we wound up.
But I was glad to be back in Arizona, even in its barrenness that is so different than the landscapes that nourish my soul. It is not always about having one's soul nourished by the land. There is more to life than that.
The reason I was glad to be back was that Arizona has felt, over the last year and half, and continues to feel, like it is one of the few free places left in the world. Others states, such as Florida, have gained more notoriety for bucking the repressive mandates of the shutdown, but Arizona has felt as close to normal as anywhere probably has felt in the United States, and by extension probably through the western world.
This morning we went to breakfast with Ginger's folks in downtown Scottsdale at our usual egg place. I didn't even think to bring a mask. Nor when we went to Costco did it occur to me that I would need one. Live feels normal, except for the folks who still wear masks. I will not wear one. Among other things, the scientific evidence I have seen suggests that they are dangerous to one's health. It is foolish to wear one, I think.
I am thankful that I have that choice. I am thankful that things feel normal for now. In neighboring New Mexico the female governor has imposed the severest of restrictions for the next few months. I mention that she is female because I think there is something in the lack of masculinity in our culture that leading to this overwhelming of fear, stemming from the nature feminine desire to seek protection.
I thought of us while participating in a Zoom call this past week, for the company for which I just began remote work. The female head of marketing was interviewing a new board member, who is a woman in her sixties. They were swapping female empowerment stories as three hundred employees watched, including me.
At one point the marketing head asked the board member for her heroes. The board member cited the female president of New Zealand, specifically because she recently shut down her entire country because of a single death supposedly ascribed to the disease that we are supposed to fear. They couldn't say enough good things about her.
I later joked that it was all I could do not to put a "barfing emoji" into the Zoom chat scroll. But it was only my second day. I don't mind getting fired over something like that, but I figured I'd wait at least a week.
The company is headquartered in Ohio. I will probably never meet any co-workers in person. It would not be the first job for which that was true. I have been joking that I am waiting for them impose a vaccine mandate for all workers, even remote ones. I'd love to be fired over that.
So yes I'm glad to be in Arizona. Not the male governor here would be any better, if we let him. He'd gladly sell us all out in a moment, to get a pat on the back from the Establishment and from the media. But he knows we'd ride him out of town on a rail, tarred and feathered, if he tried to do that. We already know he helped in the election steal. No way will we wear a mask for him.
Of course the bigger issue is how we somehow allowed governors to turn into dictators, to be able to "mandate" such things at all. Somehow the idea that we are a free people is receding into the rear view mirror. But such type of freedom is a masculine virtue, that cannot exist with strong masculinity in our culture, which is protective. Most of our male politicians are corrupt these days, so no one feels protected, even when they admire the raw strength of the "strong man."
Meanwhile people come into this state and find it refreshing. One of Ginger's new patients is a young woman who just moved here from California, and remarked how much more relaxed it is here in Arizona. Ginger was surprised because the young woman is a vegan who strikes her as a natural leftie.
"Tell her to make sure vote for Democrats here so it can turn into the nightmare place she left," I told Ginger.
By the way, Ginger has a good track record of convincing vegans to give up the horrible lifestyle choice they have made. Even when we lived in Portland, she was able to deprogram a few of them.
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