Friday, April 17, 2020

A peace activist tries accept life under quarantine.


Friends,

  This was submitted to LETTERS FROM THE HOMEFRONT: Inspired by the poignant letters in the Maryland Historical Society collection documenting past adversities from the Spanish flu of 1918, to the Annapolis yellow fever epidemics of 1793 and 1800, MdHS is calling on Marylanders to send their personal stories of how the pandemic is impacting their lives. Whether you are staying at home in self-quarantine or working through the crisis – your story is unique and important. Marylanders abroad and our healthcare workers are also encouraged to submit. Email submissions to lettersfromthehomefront@mdhs.org.

FROM Max Obuszewski -- It is difficult to fathom that the COVID-19 virus pandemic could be as deadly as the 1918 Influenza. My ancestors started to arrive in Erie, Pennsylvania just before the turn of the twentieth century.  Presumably, someone in the family tree was a victim of that influenza.

 Since I am in quarantine, I thought of other epidemics which victimized family members.  My brother Bob was born in 1939, and somehow became infected with polio.  Fortunately, the effect of the virus was that one leg was thinner than the other.  So he was able to lead an active life.  Later in life, however, he had circulation problems in that leg. Fortunately, in 1955 it was announced that the vaccine that Jonas Salk developed was safe and effective.  I and my other two brothers escaped the scourge of polio.

 Going further back, my Uncle Harry was a victim of tuberculosis, and the disease eventually killed him when he was 30 years young. I did not know him. However, my Aunt Mary, his wife, told me that their house in Erie had a quarantine sign on the door while Uncle Harry suffered from TB.

   As a long-time peace and justice advocate with the Baltimore Nonviolence Center, the quarantine has really affected my work.  There is no risking arrest, lobbying legislators, demonstrating against Johns Hopkins University’s weapons contracts or the National Security Agency’s illegal and unconstitutional surveillance of U.S. citizens or trips to D.C. to lobby, to protest or to attend conferences.  All of this is now on the back burner.

I contact my legislators by email, and hope they respond.  I do conference calls with other peace and justice advocates.  More recently, we are doing Zoom conferences. I sign online petitions, but very much want to get back on the streets and hold a sign against some injustice.

Member of Prevent Nuclear War/Maryland were prepared to go to New York City in April for a two-day anti-nuclear conference, and on the third day we were to march to the United Nations to mark the 50th anniversary of the Nuclear Non-Proliferation Treaty.  Of course, these activities have been postponed. I planned to be in D.C. on June 20 for the Poor Peoples Campaign annual rally and march.  That is now scheduled to be a virtual rally.
On March 18, I was to fly to Tampa, Florida to visit friends in St. Petersburg.  We were to attend the 2020 NCAA men's basketball tournament first round in Tampa, March 19 and 21. Of course, the tournament was cancelled, as well as my trip.

I last played basketball on March 20 in Towson.  Since then, the Bykota Senior Center has been closed. So I was going to an outdoor court across the street on Central Avenue three times a week to do my exercises, and to shoot some hoops.  After two weeks, though, the county removed the hoops.  So now my partner, Janice, and I go to the Johns Hopkins University track on University Parkway.  Janice walks around the track, and I run.  I still do the warm-ups I would do if I were preparing to play basketball.  This includes bending and toe-touching, jumping jacks, leg kicks and push-ups.  Of course, I really miss playing basketball.  And as a colleague mentioned in an email, I miss the camaraderie.

 And as a cinephile, I am in pain as the Charles, the Senator, the Parkway and the Landmark are all closed.  I heard Stephen King interviewed on the radio show FRESH AIR by Terry Gross, and he also spoke out about wanting to get out and see a movie.   Once restrictions are lifted, what will the post-epidemic movie-going experience be like?  Will we be checked with a thermometer before buying a ticket?  Will there be social-distancing inside the theater?

Janice and I now watch films and other offerings at home. WORLD ON FIRE is a must-see.  And over several days, I watched John Grisham’s marvelous documentary INNOCENT MAN, taken from his only nonfiction book.  As he explains at the beginning of this series, he could not do a novel about this true-crime situation in Ada, Oklahoma, as no one would believe the story.  Two women in Ada are murdered, one in 1982 and the other in 1984.  You have an unscrupulous district attorney who withholds exculpatory evidence, crooked police, a jail-house snitch and the conviction of four innocent men in three trials lacking any evidence.  Two of them remain in prison at the conclusion of the documentary.  Another stellar six-part series is THE ENGLISH GAME.  Class warfare in England plays out on a football pitch.

 And we make it a point to support local restaurants once or twice a week.  Of course,  we do take-out.  

 As a former Peace Corps volunteer who served in Botswana from 1977 to 1981, I felt badly for all of the volunteers who were pulled out of service around  the world.  And then there are the students who are out of school. I feel pain for the professional and amateur athletes whose careers are on hold. Amateur athletes who play spring sports will lose this year.  

 Life in many ways is on hold.  No one can predict when this nightmare will end.  My dreams seem to be affected by the pandemic.  A few nights ago, Janice was scheduled to be executed.  The following night, I was facing eviction as furniture was being removed from my office.   

 Now is the time to listen to Gloria Gaynor and her 1978 song I WILL SURVIVE.  “And I've got all my love to give and I'll survive.”

Donations can be sent to Max Obuszewski, Baltimore Nonviolence Center, 431 Notre Dame Lane, Apt. 206, Baltimore, MD 21212.  Ph: 410-323-1607; Email: mobuszewski2001 [at] comcast.net. Go to http://baltimorenonviolencecenter.blogspot.com/

"The master class has always declared the wars; the subject class has always fought the battles. The master class has had all to gain and nothing to lose, while the subject class has had nothing to gain and everything to lose--especially their lives." Eugene Victor Debs



No comments: