The undercurrent of uncertainty that has persisted throughout the Trump takeover has continued to increase in intensity, while everything on the surface remains calm and I wonder how long the dichotomy can hold.
If you ignore the news you could be forgiven for thinking that, outside of the recent war and subsequent gas price increases, things are pretty good. As I putter about in my garden this spring I find myself focusing inwards on this small patch of space that I can exercise control over. In those moments digging in the dirt I understand the temptation to put our heads into the sand.
War? What war? There is no war in Ba Sing Se my garden.
I guess I have this fantasy where, no matter how bad things get, if I just keep taking care of the garden that I'll be able to keep my house, and my job, and hold my life in place while the rest of the world spins out of control around us. By digging my hands into the dirt I'm trying to put down roots and bind myself to this spot, this place in time.
When we moved in I found it easy to picture the next 30 years in this house, now, only a decade later, it all feels so precarious.
The talking heads are saying that we're a week or two away from the worst fuel crisis in the history of the world. I don't think anyone in my age group can appreciate the significance of that because we have no working memory of the last fuel crisis in the 70s. I've seen pictures of the lines at empty gas stations but even during the worst recessions of my lifetime, we were always able to get gas, even if many of us couldn't afford it.
Right now we're all still driving around using fuel that was delivered before the strait was closed, and even in a best case scenario where the ceasefire hadn't failed, it would have taken weeks to bring things back online, so there was going to be pain one way or another, the only question was how bad it was going to be.
Small tangent but worth noting here, China is sitting on massive oil reserves, and they have the greenest energy grid, they will remain largely unaffected by this crisis, so put in a pin in that.
Everyone else though, now that the ceasefire has most certainly failed all we know is that we're careening towards the edge of a cliff, and the US leadership is still operating on vibes and a strong sense of invincibility.
What am I supposed to do with that information? Fill my spare gas can?
Rather than try to plan for that it's easier to just plant another tomato plant, pull more weeds, and pretend that nothing else matters.
So, how's your garden doing this spring? My basil is already popping up and it smells like heaven.