Wandering Along the Path: Right Speech

Today is my dear friend's birthday.  No bear hugs, cake or going out to dinner.  Our new reality is to celebrate remotely, without gifts, and perhaps it's a good challenge.  Words are our gifts these days.  What we say, our tone, our carefulness and skill are needed when we are staring at a FaceTime screen or speaking on the phone.  Right speech has never been more in demand.  Our president will evidently never learn that lesson.  He offers false, contradictory and ill informed comments, instead of allowing doctors and scientists to speak to us with facts.  His fake heartiness is frightening.  He has no idea what real reassurance would look like, because it would involve trust going both ways.  He trusts no one.  Luckily, there are factual sources that we can turn to in this crisis, and we must.  If he lifts restrictions on social distancing, he will be responsible for American deaths.  It appears that he is ready and willing to do that to keep the economy afloat.  I guess he cannot imagine what others of his age are feeling - expendable and undervalued.  There may be fear underneath, but he prefers to show us an image of a tap dancer on stage.  Hale, hearty and utterly delusional.