Today’s weather forecast is temperatures in the mid-fifties and rain off and on, making it the perfect Saturday to catch up on work. The kittens are both on laying on my desk. Winter is taking her morning naps, and Chewy is watching a lizard closely through the window. Potatoe and Trooper are laying on their favorite blanket on the living room couch. As if on cue, CCR’s, “Who Will Stop the Rain?” just started playing on Alexa.
The biggest topic in the news today is inflation. Consumer confidence is tumbling, and inflation is skyrocketing. The Super Bowl is tomorrow and much of the news coverage is about how expensive everything at the Super Bowl will be. President Biden is weak, even getting snippy in an interview with Lester Holt when Holt asked what we are all wondering, “When is the inflation, which you said was temporary, going to end?” Biden often gets defensive when he is challenged. He views himself as some sort of power God father of our country telling us how to live our lives, not as the president that is elected to serve the people.
The stock market, namely the NASDAQ continues to tumble. It is good that I love my job because I will be at it another few years more than planned at the rate that my retirement savings are dropping. My five-years to retirement plan is more of a ten-years to retirement plan right now. One positive to our economy is that the labor market continues to stay strong.
Little Chirp and I are working together to offset the dent that inflation is putting into our spending power. We cut out things that we did not care as much about, like picking up breakfast on the way to school and expensive treats at the grocery store. We cook at home, and we eat all of the leftovers. Our biggest savings has come from eliminated our grocery store waste.
The tide seems like it is turning on Covid. Lockdowns and mask mandates are coming to what many believe will be permanent ends. Protests of lockdowns, mask and vaccine mandates are breaking out all over the world. The world is realizing that Covid is here to stay, and we cannot stop living our lives. For every Covid death there is at least one death resulting from the mental health issues of the isolation that Covid put on our lives. It is hard to believe that this madness has gone on for two years now. Little Chirp starts high school in the fall. His last “normal” school year was in fifth grade.
Also on the world front, Russia is threatening to invade the Ukraine. Most believe that the invasion is imminent. An invasion could send the entire world’s economy in a tailspin by creating an energy shortage.
For many Americans, the potential of war is an afterthought because of the extreme raise in crime rates across the country. People are afraid, and they should be. In 2021, our nation had its largest ever rise in the homicide rate with an increase of 30%. One of the lead stories this morning on Good Morning America was the number of officer shooting that happened across our nation this week. The same politicians calling to defund the police are not taking the funerals of police officers as an opportunity to be seen publicly in support of the police.
I find myself changing my own routines and life habits. I used view someone walking me to my car as a Southern gesture of manners. Now, I view it as a necessity. I went out for the first time in a long time on Thursday, and I noticed the guys going in and out of the bar to walk people from their car to the door of the bar. The bar is located in what would have been considered a safe neighborhood. Now, there is no such thing as a safe neighborhood. I also stopped running and walking alone when it is dark outside. I no longer let Little Chirp wander by himself in the Walmart and Target. I put trackers inside my purse and wallet. All of these behaviors would have seemed excessive before the crime that Covid brought to our doorsteps.
What have we learned? I hope that we have learned that a nation divided cannot thrive. I hope that we have learned that we need to come together in the middle and take away the power of extremist on both sides of the aisle. I hope that we have learned how incredibly valuable our police officers are. I personally feel that our nation owes a huge apology to our police officers. That apology should start from the heads of our nation and local Houston government. Politicians need to be held accountable for the damage that they have done thanks to the abuse of power they enjoyed during the pandemic.
There is no doubt that there is a great deal going on in the world as we are 33 days into 2022. Our nation has many problems that we need to address in a short amount of time. My heart is optimistic. We need change, and I pray that leaders can come forth that will bring us that change. I also pray for our police officers working to protect us in this dangerous world.