April 6, 2021

From Gerald R. Lucas

Everyone’s a Dick covid-19: day 379 | US: GA | info | act

I think it has to do with being couped-up for the last year and the current political climate: but everyone seems to be such a dick lately. Including me, I guess. Student emails run from moderately rude to downright nasty this semester. Even in my face-to-face class, a student went off about her religious beliefs and how my lecture was offending her. I tried to explain how my analysis of religion should be taken in the context of our study of The Handmaid’s Tale, but she refused to hear that. Another student agreed with her, saying she felt “attacked.” I offered an apology and took a break. None of the rest of the class said anything, nor did either of the two even acknowledge the incident upon my return.

I happened to be standing in the kitchen looking out the front window. I watched the driver hit one my Cherry Blossom trees as he ineptly tried to back into my narrow driveway. When I called him on it, he just looked at it and started walking away. I called after him: “You know, an ‘I’m sorry’ would go a long way here.” His response was a tacit fuck-you.

Trash on the side of the road is at an all-time high, especially discarded masks. Fewer people seem to even care that I’m running or walking on the side of the road. All are in a hurry: aggressive and guarding their road space.

I was accused of being an overbearing asshole (shocking, huh?) by asking people whether they’ve been vaccinated—people that by choosing not to get vaccinated could have a deleterious effect on my family. Yeah, if not getting a vaccine only effected them, then I could care less. Your choice. However, when their choice puts me or my family at-risk, there’s an issue—particularly when there’s a safe, free, and easily accessed vaccine for a pandemic that has killed over 550K Americans.

Yeah, I’m the asshole. I’m surrounded by proud fools and arrogant idiots; how am I supposed to react to that?

I’m doing my best here. Maybe everyone else is, too? I don’t know.