This smorgasbord of writing is one year old. It was founded on the 29th of February 2020, and with the passing of the 28th to the 1st, it turned one. Of all years to start something like this, 2020 was sure a weird one. Perhaps in a moment of foresight I thought I would do something special for a special year, just the particular kind of special was out of left field.
That’s not entirely true. When I first started this my buddy had just visited me. He lived in China and was able to extend his trip by a couple weeks due to the initial lockdowns there. The virus was on my radar, but I didn’t think Argentina, down here far below the equator, would really be a part of the story. I guessed the rest of the world would have minor outbreaks, the limited news out of China would be heartbreaking, and life would continue unabated.
I was partially wrong. The world had the exact opposite of a minor outbreak, and life didn’t continue unabated. The news out of China, my former home, continues to be heartbreaking as genocide runs ranpant and the government breaks a beautiful civilization on the wheel of relentless totaliarianism.
I have no idea where the next year will take us all. The event horizon of the future has grown so close, so very near to my eyes’ focal point that I wouldn’t dare a prediction. Today, though, is a beautiful day here in Buenos Aires. The enormous vault of the sky is a memorizing azure as it stretches from the river to the pampa. The sun is warm and the trees sway gently in the summer breeze. The future will arrive in its own time and in its own way. Today is to be enjoyed in the way it arrived, all by itself.
Until that future arrives, however it does, I will remain hopeful. They say it is darkest before dawn, but I’ll be damned if I can tell you the hours ‘till daybreak in the dead of night. I don’t know how long the present troubles will trouble us, but eventually it will end and sunny days like today can again be taken in as they once were.
I’ll keep posting until then and well after. But keep the mask as a souvenir.
