by Star Jameson, Hamilton
A couple of things occurred to me, as I sipped my coffee watching the weeds in my backyard emerge from not-enough snow this February.
I love the Olympics, but I’m ready to quit them. I was watching the women’s ski jumping and noticed the Olympic Rings on a backdrop that looked like canvas. The camera panned out. There were four (or five) nuclear power plants in the background. That was disturbing. But when I read 49 million gallons of water, and 300 snow “guns” were used to create the snow for the winter Olympics, I stepped back. This is absurd. Much as I love athletic competition, the excitement of a perfect skate, or a gold medal win, I think scheduling the event during a pandemic, in a Communist country with whom we are at very serious odds, when the planet is drying up–it’s all madness. I’m out.
Sometimes coffee makes my mind chatter a lot. It carried on. What if we had a demonstration in the valley at the County Administrative building that looked like the January 6 insurrection, with rifles, steel pipes, bombs planted at the courthouse, and a raging mob? That isn’t covered in the Constitution. That looks like treason. There would be clamoring for justice. Rightfully so.
As I downed my last drop of coffee, my love for humanity checked in. What I know for sure is when disaster strikes, we help each other. We don’t stop to ask what party you belong to, or if you’re vaccinated. We have each other’s backs. We are witnessing devastation across the country, and people are helping each other. This beautiful valley can’t escape climate change. Let’s bury the hatchets early. Let’s help each other prepare for fires, drought, flood and a supply chain that can’t keep up. That’s the team effort I’m investing in. How about you?