What to Think?

From an article by Rav Arora, 19, at nypost.com, this illuminating snippet: “According to median household income statistics from the US Census Bureau, several minority groups substantially out-earn whites. These groups include Pakistani Americans, Lebanese Americans, South African Americans, Filipino Americans, Sri Lankan Americans and Iranian Americans (in addition to several others). Indians, the group I belong to, are the highest-earning ethnic group the census keeps track of, with almost double the household median income of whites…” Thank you, sir.

Here’s an amusing headline and the first line of the accompanying article at foxnews.com: “Soda flavors disappear from store shelves due to aluminum can shortage: Americans stocked up on canned beverages during the lockdown.”

Covid 19 is racist. According to the CDC, the death rate is twice as high for minorities. Despite the rising rate of infection, I’ve seen little to contradict the overall percentage death rate of one-quarter of one percent. Some doctors believe it’s one-half of one-percent. Given this, does the cowering going on throughout America indicate a change in our national character? It seems so. I’ve said it many times — one of the great modern ironies is that increased life expectancy has resulted in increased paranoia.

It was a gorgeous day, the pleasant breeze blowing along Bay Parkway taking the sting out the heat as I set up shop beneath the tree in front of Chase. My thanks to the gentleman who overcompensated me for a book on idioms and This Book Will Make You Think: Philosophical Quotes and What They Mean by Alain Stephen, and to the lovely young woman who bought a hardcover collection of Chekhov short stories. I’ve been in that spot the past four weekends and have yet to see several of my elderly regular customers. When I didn’t spot Bad News Billy’s car as I was driving home yesterday — and saw a large dumpster near the house in which he lives, I anticipated the worst, as he suffers several underlying conditions. A mutual friend put that fear to rest through a Facebook message. Whew!

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