Nurture your Nature

Let them Rest-In-Peace

The graves in Norway are marked by flowers planted in May and many tombstones engraved with Fred1 and Takk for alt2 appear well maintained.

There is no sense of gloom around the old stone or wooden churches. Perhaps in the pine forests where the huldra still lurk, perhaps in the stone caves of the trolls. Not in Solvorn where grass grows and horses graze. Not even in Gamle Oslo.

In Sweden where my ancestors are buried there remains not a trace. Graves are reused once the family stops paying for their upkeep. In a corner next to the church in Hesselby there's a tomb for old graves stones, stacked neatly.

Nothing remains of the scars left by The Plague that killed off families and towns, killed the Kingdom of Norway3. Even left some with resistance to the modern plague of AIDS4.

But Norway and Sweden took divergent paths to controlling the covid pandemic. Norway has a death rate per million of 148; Sweden, 1438. Montana is 1639 with the not-so-honorable ranking of #34 out of 50 US states.

Norway closed its border with Sweden, imposed mask mandates, shut down, took an active approach to combating the disease. Sweden was more laissez-faire, depending on the 'common-sense' of its population.

Both were slow to vaccinate, but 56-57% are now vaccinated. Montana is at 49% and not rising. I'd be safer in Sweden these days, safer still in Norway this past year.

The battle lines have been drawn in the USA. Americans would rather retreat to their tribal enclaves than seek solutions. I don't see how one side can live with the other if they are perceived as killing them off.

Rather than politicians and media, I suspect it's traditional dogmatism versus investigative science. This schism runs deep in American society. It morphs with every generation but it's underpinning is an us-versus-them zero-sum mentality that in my opinion goes back to the Old Testament. There are modern nations that don't play this tribal game.

Personally, I don't have much of a choice because of where I live5 I'm feeling trapped again. A tourist town is a curse when the tourists show no respect.

So, let them rest-in-peace. All those who curse the sun and choose to live in the darkness of ignorance. May they die soon and allow the rest of us to live in peace.

~430 words
Posted in "Blogville " 

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Footnotes
1  peace
2  literally, thanks for everything
3  depopulation led to the Union of Kalmar in 1397. It took over 500 years to regain their sovereignty. 1814 from Denmark. 1905 from Sweden.
4  CCR5-delta 32 gene
5  half rooms, half AirBnB, shared toilets and showers