A Time Not Seen

The day you were born.

Your first steps.

The moment when you saw the sky.

A time not seen.

The War of Independence.

The war between the states.

The war for human rights.

A time not seen.

Before smartphones.

Before telephone poles.

Before the telegraph wire.

A time not seen.

The edge of the universe.

The edge of our solar system.

The edge of despair in the human heart.

A time not seen.

Like a toddler new to the world, America is about to take a step into the future.

It would appear reason and ignorance are evenly balanced.

The balance point is the virus.

Science and its companion medicine shout out warnings to step back.

This country has seen death before.

But not at the hands of such a merciless God as this virus.

It laughs at a few hundred thousand.

The grim skull of the virus will not be complete until it takes millions of lives from coast to coast.

Too many want to step off the cliff to see what happens.

If only those who want to tempt fate were the ones to lose their lives.

You cannot stop a fool from shooting their own foot off.

However, the determination of those who want to ignore reality is committing a kind of social suicide.

They don't want to go alone.

They're not going without taking us with them.

Their hatred of government, laws, restrictions, minorities, and women spurs them over the cliff like lemmings.

The jaws of the virus feed at the bucket of the prejudiced.

What makes America worse at handling this global crisis?

Racism.

Both ethnic and economic.

A time is rapidly approaching that has not been seen.

Unless and until there is an effective vaccine, the virus will mount bodies to the sky.

This country has not seen a million people perish in one crisis.

Other nations have.

Other nations came out on the other side.

Different.

Matured.

They came to understand the value of one human life.

We, as a nation, have not learned that lesson.

This nation is falling and does not recognize its descent.

Let us change the trajectory.

Let us challenge the fear.

Let us make this a time not seen.

A time where compassion is our guide.

A time when hope is the arm that comforts us.

A time when love asks each of us to do more each and every day.

Let us, please, see that too many have died.

Do something now.

Peace

Daniel J Frey aka Toby

Fear

Where does fear come from?  

Children are afraid of the dark.  

What lurks out in the space unseen, unknown, unfelt, unplanned for?  

But is fear a thing? 

Is it something that can be touched?  

Is it a monster under the bed?  

Is it an entity that roams and attacks us without warning?  

Or is it something inside of us?  

Is it something we tell ourselves?  

Specifically, is fear about us and not about fear itself?  

There are, of course, many things to fear.  

Spiders.  

Paper cuts.  

Snakes.  

Auto accidents.  

Plane flight.  

Job loss. 

Illness. 

Death.  

These are all things that, in their specific ways, can stop our plans.  

They are real fears.

But is that what fear is really?  

Is fear a reaction to a force that has changed our schedule?  

The COVID virus.  

This virus has changed the plans of everyone on the planet.  

It is about what viruses do; they spread and multiply.  

Our deaths are not its purpose.  

Killing off its host is not suitable for any host in the long run because it doesn't allow it to succeed.

To pass on its legacy.

Its genes. 

It wants cooperation so it can live.  

Fear. 

Our plans changed.  

Those who deny the science are living in fear of the truth.  

Their non-cooperation with social distancing and wearing a mask is couched behind a veil of personal freedom.

A mask.

Our brothers and sisters are afraid of the virus and believe spitting in the face of reason will allow them to dodge the Grim Reaper.  

Their fear allows them to take no responsibility for the despair and the death they will cause.  

Ultimately, fear is a scapegoat that creates a narrative of denial of personal responsibility to the community and self.

They are whistling past the graveyard.

Who is the conductor of the tune?  

The Devil made me do it.  

The virus needs no help to kill.  

But those who need our help are those who live in fear.

Fear is a mask.  

America is going to live through a time that it has never seen before.  Simple algebra can demonstrate real fear.  

As the statistics demonstrate, only 5% of the US population has been exposed to the virus, with 85K deaths.  

What happens when there is no vaccine and 100% of the population is exposed?

How many people will have perished?  

North of 1.5 million Americans.  

That's the number the CDC has been gagged from telling.  

That's the human tragedy that's being kept from the airwaves.  

That is a real fear.  

Yet fear can stimulate courage.  

Fear can grow purpose.  

Fear can challenge a people and a person to do what is right.  

Without fear, we wouldn't know what love is.  

Love will see all of us through this time.  

Love will brush aside the terror of the night to reveal the truth of the day.  

See those who are living in fear and give them hope by your example.  

Wear your mask with pride, knowing you're saving others' lives, not just your own.  

It is only through looking out for each other that we will get to our joy together.  

Darkness is the nature of the universe; each of us is a light in that eternal night, which is why we each have an obligation to tend to that light called hope.  

The moon, silent, went on a stroll between the stars, and when it looked down on the earth there, it saw even more stars all the same above and below.  

Peace.  

Daniel J Frey aka Toby

Angels

I have seen them on the Earth.

As an orderly for five years.

As the son of an RN, Elaine Frey.

As the husband of RN Denny Frey, she cares for her patients in the ICU.

I have seen angels on the Earth.

I have seen nurses wipe the bloody wounds clean.

Watched as they laughed about a daytime TV show.

Heard them cry after the patient's family had left the bedside of their loved one who had passed.

I watched as they prepared a meal after a long day at work.

Listened to them tell a doctor to pay attention to their patient who is in need.

I felt cared for when I was sick, told to take my medicine, and forced to drink fluids.

Brotherhood, as they helped me prepare the bodies of those who had passed to take to the morgue.

A team, while the nurses hung IV meds, wrote quick nurses' notes, bagged the patient, and I did the CPR.

Sitting down after a long night to have a donut, but they're all gone.

The Doctors ate them.

Saw them wheel a female patient in a wheelchair up to OBGYN; it's their first baby.

Was there as they filled out the patients' chart?

Was there as they took the call from the attending physician?

Assisted in holding the patient while they cleaned and washed those who had soiled themselves.

Was there when it was their first day on the job?

Was there when it was their last day.

Angels.

They were there when they retired.

There when they put their feet up.

The hands of a nurse are a contradiction.

They are strong and able to turn 300-pound patients.

They are rough and cracked from years of constant washing.

They are also filled with an unbounded understanding of the true meaning of love.

Love never asks for less.

Love asks all of us to do more than expected.

Angels do more than expected.

The crisis of a generation is upon us all.

We are all grateful that we are not alone in this world to face it.

There are angels there to catch us should we stumble.

Catch us as we fall.

Angels who bring the light of hope.

Thank you.

Peace

Daniel J Frey aka Toby

The Elephant in the Room

People are dying because conservatives do not believe in the federal government.

People are dying because they believe in the conservative idea of the individual free from interference from the State.

People are dying because of their conservative faith.

The Republican Party has died, and like a dead elephant in a river, the sickness is spreading downstream, devouring anyone who drinks from that water.

The argument is as old as the country: States' rights versus federal.

From Nixon to Mitch McConnell, from Paul Harvey to Rush Limbaugh, the hatred and doctrine of killing off the federal government have been preached through the decades.

This conservative movement within the Republican Party has had it with our Republic.

They have preached Nationalism, white Nationalism, where white men rule, and all others need not apply.

They no longer will tolerate women as being equal, or blacks, or browns, or Asians, or gays, or anyone not a white Anglo-Saxon male.

To that end, people like Newt Gingrich got the idea that they could slowly starve to death the federal government.

They could slowly weaken it to the point where they could throw the government into a bathtub and drown it.

Their words.

They could restore the proper order of the world.

Their white male God and then his agents here on earth, the white male businessman.

They have preached the ideal of the independent man.

The rugged individual.

A person who does not need any assistance from the government or others.

The self-made man.

This whole conservative mindset of killing off the federal government is based upon the real personality disorder that these individuals all share.

It's sociopathic.

It's only about me and my needs and to hell with you.

This sociopathic mindset is found in conservative circles, on Wall Street, in corporations, and in traditional religious faiths here and around the world.

Either our way or the highway.

Kill them all, and let God sort them out.

Their words.

As of today, it is apparent that 2020 has been canceled.

There is a viral tiger in our streets.

It has been made manifestly worse by this stand-it-alone, profit is king, screw the weak doctrine.

Blatant profiteering is taking place by friends of this President.

Yet, the universe has a sense of dark irony that the mind, which focuses only on itself, cannot, will not see.

Those who work together will survive.

Those who cooperate will thrive.

Those who share will prosper.

Those who partake in the beloved community will see the future.

Those who believe themselves immune to death because of their individualism, their isolation from the community, and their hatred of the federal government will find that Tiger will not pass by their door.

Mortality is the great equalizer.

There is nothing sadder than a life lived alone.

We come together to share life and to have more of it.

Peace.

Daniel J Frey aka Toby

A Quiet

When dreams are lost to reality.  

When day becomes night.  

When anger transforms into action. 

A quiet comes down.  

As the reality of this virus impinges on our lives.  

As the reality of leadership is met, while others fail.  

As the reality of mortality looks each of us square in the face. 

A quiet comes down.  

A quiet comes down.  

In this time of quiet, things that were once obscured become clear.  

The warmth of hot coffee.  

The warmth of friends' laughter.  

The warmth of love passed.  

Love present.  

A quiet comes down.

A quiet comes down.  

Days turn into starry nights.  

Days turn into loud, defiant voices.  

Days turn into the face of the moon.  

Tomorrow comes.  

A quiet comes down.  

Together we can find a quiet place.  

Together, our compassion will get us through this year of pain.  

Together, united in a bond that transcends all of time and distance.

We call love…  

When I am scared and alone.  

And the world has turned cold and gray.  

I think of the beautiful faces of my friends.  

I am not alone anymore.  

A quiet comes down.

A quiet comes down.  

Peace  

Daniel J Frey aka Toby

Where We Stand

Right and wrong.

Right and left.

Right and doing nothing.

Right, and being alone.

Right is right.

What are the consequences of doing right?

It takes energy to do what is right as much as it takes to do what is wrong.

For the most part, most of us like to stand in the gray area.

That place in-between where we don't have to react.

We don't have to lift a finger.

We don't have to have any anxiety.

We don't have to fear if we are right or wrong.

The silent majority.

We can be left alone.

A truth.

To set a standard and to declare what is right versus what is wrong ultimately will shine the spotlight of scorn and ridicule upon you.

Why?

Do you know the old adage about the crabs in a barrel?

One of the crabs wanted to know what was outside of its world.

What was outside of the barrel that all of the other crabs were trapped in?

There were tales of the great beyond where everything you ever wanted came true.

There were also tales of monsters of dark creatures that would devour you.

This crab decided to crawl out despite being warned that it would be dangerous, as its fellow crabs had advised against it.

Well, just as the crab started to crawl out, the other crabs grabbed hold of it and pulled it back into the barrel.

Ultimately, they all found themselves on that night's menu.

They made their own worst fears come true.

They did nothing.

Doing what's right makes people angry.

Why?

It forces a spotlight upon their own lives, revealing their apathy.

Their nihilism.

Their unwillingness to put out the fire.

They don't want that hot light upon them to say what is right because they don't want to face the possibility that they might be wrong.

Even in the face of certitude, what is obviously the right thing to do.

If a child is sexually attacked, the person obfuscates and pretends they don't actually see.

They don't understand why they have a responsibility to step in and stop it.

Christians have a misinterpretation of the biblical passage of not judging others.

All recorded civilizations and societies have had a sense of morality.

What is right and what is wrong.

If judging were wrong, there would be no courts and no one in prison for theft, rape, or murder.

Anarchy would rule.

Taking a stand throughout the history of humankind against what is wrong has placed obvious targets upon these individuals who did.

But let's bring it down to everyday living?

The next time you're at dinner with your family and your uncle makes a racist joke, do you call them out on it?

When you're on the bus, and your bag is sitting on the seat next to you, do you pick it up so that the stranger can have a seat?

When you see a cop beating up on a guy, do you call for restraint?

You can see that your congressional district is gerrymandered.

Do you call out your politicians to make it fair for all voters?

If you know a neighbor is alone during this time of the pandemic, do you check in with them to see if they need anything?

These are a few examples of doing the right thing in everyday life.

They may be easy for you, difficult for others.

Doing the right thing will always bring about consequences.

For every action, there is a reaction.

Doing the right thing in the face of wrong, doing the right thing ultimately in the face of evil, will leave you in an empty space.

Separated from the crowd.

I've personally found myself many times in that lonely space.

Most days, I feel like I stand at the edge of an abyss, calling out but hearing nothing coming back.

I recognize it is a tired world we all live in.

Now, we are more separated because of this health crisis.

The effort to do what is right is neglected by many.

Given lip service by most.

The darkness of the world is borne by a few.

As Mark Twain said, "Wages of doing what is right versus what is wrong is the same."

Most of what we do on this journey called life will never be recognized or appreciated beyond our own recollection of events.

Our good works will be buried with us.

However…

Count me as standing against evil till the end of time.

Standing against the wicked.

Standing against the corrupt.

A warrior for the light.

Giving comfort to the tired, the lonely, the sick.

For it is only in that blessed light that, once shown into darkness, can it release the enslavement of man's mind to the shackles of other people's tyranny.

We are bound together.

Peace

Daniel J Frey aka Toby

Where Is Love

Oliver Twist in the musical Oliver laments and prays about the whereabouts of love while he's locked in the basement of a funeral parlor where he's an indentured servant.

This scene is no allegory.

There are no hidden meanings here.

He's trapped in a dark world where the light of love refuses to shine for him.

I want to ask the same question, where is love?

A lot of us think we know what it means.

We believe we have it, want it, can express it, and know when it's being shown towards us.

But knowing the definition doesn't mean we can actually do it.

I know the definition of a pole-vaulter, but if I attempted an even modest leap, my lack of understanding of its meaning would result in a spectacular YouTube-worthy fail.

I have no experience or success at pole vaulting.

Love is an ideal that many attempt, but few will be able to stick the landing.

However, you can find a few gold medal winners Mother Teresa, Jesus, Buddha, Gandhi, Lao Tzu…

Strong voices of love are not only in the past.

You can find among all of us strong hearts who can lead a workout class in love.

Love is the hardest emotion to understand with the intellect; it defies logic because it's the language of the soul, the song of the heart.

We're all tone-deaf; we can't hear the melody or the lyric.

Like Oliver, we're all locked in a dark world that mistreats us, batters our souls misshapes our perceptions, ignites anger, walls out understanding, and whispers lies telling us we're misunderstood, alone, unwanted.

We cannot tell the difference between the noise of fear and the soft whisper of love.

Be the answer to Oliver's prayer.

Act with love.

Do it today.

Please do it for yourself first.

If you can't forgive yourself, you can't forgive others.

To love the world begins by loving yourself.

Peace.

Daniel J Frey aka Toby