Old normal gets new appreciation
We were out of coffee this morning, so one of us had to do an emergency run to the “corner store.” Ten minutes later, the volunteer came back with a pound of French ground. The woman at Walgreens had to take it out from a locked glass enclosure, he reported with a resigned smile.
At home, meanwhile, the TV flashed shocking images of the reality besieging a citizenry who two weeks ago shared our assumptions that the comforts would always be there and easily accessed. The baggy-eyed Ukrainians hiding from missiles in basements are deprived of just about everything they’d expect on an ordinary morning.
Who would have thought that naked aggression recalling the horrors of World War II would visit a peaceful European country in the year 2022 — and that it would be the evil work of one unhinged man? But there it was, dismantling so many premises that contributed to good sleep in the developed world.
The relief in President Joe Biden’s State of the Union address came from its being a throwback to less stressful times. Almost no attendee wore a mask, and everyone could freely mix.
Most in the West did experience some level of deprivation in the COVID-19 pandemic. Their hardships now seem minor next to the terror overtaking Ukraine.
“Americans in most of the country can now be mask-free,” Biden had the luxury to emphasize. As for how his administration would deal with the virus remnants, he made clear that it would not be with restrictions but through easy access to vaccines, antiviral treatments and testing.
As in earlier times, many Republicans joined Democrats in standing ovations when the president of the other party said things they approved of. Biden’s fiery support of the Ukrainian resistance with promises of military and economic aid had an easy bipartisan appeal. But some Republicans also applauded his pledges to further strengthen the American economy. One hopes some renewed sense of national unity endures for at least a while.
Biden’s speech dispensed with any woke nurturing of select groups’ feelings. Instead, it was heavy with muscular plans for rebuilding the country’s infrastructure, initiatives that were also broadly popular. “It’s time for Americans to get back to work and fill our great downtowns again,” he boomed, FDR-style.
Remember all that whining a year ago about supermarket shelves that turned suddenly empty where the paper towels used to be? We survived, and the towels are back. Do you recall the grim warnings right before Thanksgiving of a turkey shortage, that, by the way, didn’t happen?
For a while, yours truly couldn’t find any steel-cut oatmeal, but she’s still here. The refrigerated aisle at my market is now stocked with at least 20 choices of yogurt. And no one ever threatened to bomb it. How much we take for granted.
Supply chain bottlenecks are still making it hard to get certain items. The most serious shortage is semiconductors, the little brains that run modern cars and appliances. Computer chips are mostly made in Asia. But on Tuesday, Biden touted Intel’s plans to build a gigantic semiconductor plant outside Columbus, Ohio. He saluted the company’s CEO.
As Americans go back to something representing their old normal, they might consider how fragile the old normal is. They got a hint of it on Jan. 6, 2021, when their president urged a mob to violently overturn the results of a free election. That will hurt forever.
The crisis in Ukraine further reminds us how unpredictable and unstable life can be, even for people like us. But it also shows how memories of a strong civic culture can keep people like us fighting to preserve it.