Like many of us, my parents turned from reasonable, thoughtful, caring, educated people to getting their opinions from Tucker. They didn’t go full cult and start flying Trump flags, but they had a Trump sign during election time and started ranting about all the socialists. It was surprising at the time, but Fox is insidious.
My family is somewhat scattered across the country, so my parents haven’t played with their grandchildren in about 6 months. Visits were canceled due to our new world. It sucks for everyone.
They’ve essentially been locked in their house and yard. They stopped going to church since no one will wear a mask because America. Unwelcome at church due to Christian hospitality. Unwillingness to be mildly inconvenienced for our brothers has become a Christian identity.
My dad emailed me recently expressing some disdain for his worthless R governor failing to allow them some sort of outside life with universal mask wearing. No widespread mask usage means endless lockdown. I commiserated complaining about my even worse R governor and of course the absence of national leadership.
They’re stuck waiting on a vaccine since that’s our last hope.
A mentor of mine that my parents knew well died of it. That really opened their eyes. My dad knew my mentor’s dad well when I was younger. Seeing your friend lose his son can shake you. Parents shouldn’t have to bury their children.
This stuff has stolen what should have been a wonderful time from my parents and it’s getting hard to ignore. Most of the issues we get worked up over are theoretical to most of us, even the ones that really deeply matter. This isn’t theoretical and it’s damaged all of us.
I don’t know how they plan to vote this fall, but I suspect that losing time with their grandchildren, losing their church community, losing their golden years, and seeing so much suffering might make that old Trump sign look pretty unappealing.