This won't take too long.

 I just want to get something off my chest and I can't find the proper medium to do it with, really, so this will have to do. It's going to go a little dark, probably, so fair warning.

 We've topped 52,000 deaths due to the coronavirus novel and COVID-19. It's affecting old and young. I've seen more than one story about how someone's sibling died in the 1918 Influenza epidemic for them to die because of COVID-19. The four-month-old daughter of a first responder in New York died of it the other day, and undoubtedly he brought it home. There's been reports of people in their 20s hospitalized with it on the way to recovery to suddenly die of stroke even though they had no prior flags.

 We still don't have a handle on what it is, where it came from, how it spreads, how it affects different people in different ways, how to heal it, how to deal with it or, really, much of anything about it. We were caught flat footed with this. Worldwide, but particularly in the U.S., a country that brags about being the wealthiest and most advanced, it's embarrassing how easily this caused us to stumble around.

 Sure, part of it is the complete moron we have in the White House, the flaws in government that allows the people to put such a dipstick in total charge, the character failings of a voting populace that thinks letting Donald Trump possibly win another term as president, and a media that's more interested in maintaining the Status Quo and lets all this shit happens. That being said, we're seeing some countries with their shit seemingly together, like Vietnam and South Korea, and have kept their numbers down. They've done so through some very demanding requirements, Vietnam more so, but even South Korea's seeing a resurgence in numbers.

 We're not going to come out of this well. Fifty thousand deaths in a country of nearly 330 million may not seem like much, but the first death in Itawamba County was a friend from high school. It shows no signs of slowing down, much less stopping or taking a break for the summer. The economy is stumbling, too, and regardless of how much state and federal governments "reopen," it is going to be a long, long while before we see life moving around like it did this time last.

 And if you're blaming them, you're just being an asshole. "Live in fear because I won't," you hear some of the chodes say until someone close to them goes down with COVID-19. And even then, you won't have much choice. No one owes you their bravery just for your comfort. For that matter, no one owes you their life for your haircut or extra glass of iced tea or profit margin. In the past week alone, just due to the resurgence in the stock market that was caused by the initial crash, the top 15 or so billionaires in the country collectively made somewhere about $580 billion doing absolutely nothing of worth or value to anyone. Just stock whatnots.

 Like I said, these guys were billionaires to begin with and had the stock market not gone in their way, they'd be billionaires still. Kelly Loeffer, the senator from Georgia who got caught insider trading based on knowledge about COVID-19 she gleaned from closed-door meetings that went on well before the U.S. populace was hip to the trouble, was worth 500 million dollars on her own and has that much money still.

 I'm sure there's something about this I don't understand, but you can't convince me that there isn't enough ready cash in this country that everyone can hunker down until at least we figure out a decent vaccine for this, even if it takes a year. I know what you're saying, "there's nothing in the Constitution that says they have to." With that same logic, there's nothing in the Constitution that says they shouldn't or, for that matter, they "deserve" it, whatever the hell that means.

 But we won't do much to change that, just like we as a people and a culture will deny our God-given right to a weekly visit to the stylist to touch up our roots because we might spread a killer virus or horde all the toilet paper because if society collapses, think: do you want a gun or do you want to wipe your ass? I'm just kidding, of course. If you're the type to hoard toilet paper, you're the type to own more guns than you or your family could possibly ever fire if push really came to shove.

 So, people will get sick and die. They'll go broke, become homeless, and die. The rich won't so much. Oh, sure, they can pull a Masque of the Red Death, but the point of that story was that sort of thing really never works. They'll suffer; not as much as you or me, but they'll suffer. And we'll let them live that life of less suffering because we've pounded it into our heads they deserve to live better and longer while our children die in the street like rats. And we'll support not only the damn fool in the White House but also black-hearted little shits like Mitch McConnell who thinks states' having to raid pensions after going bankrupt is a good thing, because we think we deserve it.

 We're not going to come out of this clean, even if that were possible after putting 50,000 of us in the ground. More death and desperation are on the way, and anyone who thinks otherwise, well... let's just say I admire your optimism. I don't share it because I've been paying attention to America for the past 30 years, but I envy it.

 And me? Well, I'll be fine, really. Whether I get sick or not really doesn't matter as I've long tired of being here. In any event, I probably have little more than 30 years at best left in me and, unless something seriously drastic happens - no really, more drastic than what's happening now and what I'm outlining - I'll be okay for a place to stay and food to eat for that time. I have nothing invested in the future and don't plan on changing that. I'll be here as long as I'll be here and after that, well... it's all good.

 It's you poor bastards I feel sorry for.