A C. T U. A L. L Y

Spring has sprung in Berlin!   Although just yesterday we saw the first snowflakes of this winter season.   Except that would actually be the spring season, I guess.   Yes, spring officially arrived on March 21, so it’s spring for sure.   I’m easily confused these days.   Everything is so mixed up!! So mixed up.   I look outside my window and I see Nature’s vernal rebirth.   The cherry trees are funnels of pink cotton candy.     The chestnut tree in our courtyard is swollen with buds that will soon burst into pyramids of fragrant white blossoms.     I awaken to birdsong.   I rejoice in their evensong.   The velveteen bees that grace our balcony have returned.  The apple tree teases me with its tight lipstick-pink buds that will transform into Eve’s temptation.     The landscape outside is fresh.   New.   Exciting.   Full of promise.   Full of LIFE.  ...

Last night, as I was watching cable news and saw the increase in the number of reported cases of COVID-19 and the inexorably growing number of deaths worldwide, I had a mild panic attack.   My heart started racing and I think I may have actually left my body for a moment.   My imagination ran rampant and I began to wonder when the countries battling the Coronavirus would throw in the towel on flattening the curve and saving lives and go to Plan B:   the Eskimo Solution.   That’s the one where clear-eyed mathematicians, social anthropologists, and economists calculate and conclude that the people most likely to die of a COVID-19 infection are those who use the most of the world’s finite medical resources, while contributing the least to the world’s economy and society.   From a purely cost-benefit analysis, wouldn’t it make sense to put all of us net-negatives on some ice floes (if you can find any) and wave tearful goodbyes? At that point, my mind—t...