
Fever is part of the body's own disease-fighting arsenal: rising body temperatures apparently are capable of killing off many disease- producing organisms. For that reason, low fevers should normally go untreated, although you may need to see your doctor to be sure if the fever is accompanied by any other troubling symptoms.
Yesterday my eyes were tired, I was sore to move, and I felt totally like AM, the nickname for the fellow in Vinita who moved at a speed that was hard to detect much movement at all. (Vinita's kids were hard on each other and gave nicknames that would follow you throughout your life) AM's nickname was short for "Ambitious" because these boys didn't think he had any. So for the last 2 days I was totally "AM."
But there was a moment when I was thinking about last week's actions at the Capitol and thought about a technique I learned from Paula Englander Golden. She taught us how the take the temperature of a group. Not with a thermometer of course, but by asking and taking time to listen to how people were at a particular moment of time.
What if someone could have stopped the feverish crowd last week and taken time to listen and to be listened to. What if by talking and discussing truths, perhaps real truth could have been honored?
I was able to take the temperature of lots of different groups through the years. Our country had a temperature last week. We were beat into a frenzy. Even though there were thousands of "patriots" activated to invade the capitol, they did so in defense of a lie. Definition of fever pitch : a state of intense excitement and agitation; an example of fever pitch in a sentence: "I worked myself up to a fever pitch of enthusiasm."
A lie doesn't become truth, wrong doesn't become right, and evil doesn't become good just because its accepted by a majority. Booker T. Washington
And that day on the steps of the Capitol and those who broke windows and doors did so in a fever.
Yesterday after acknowledging my personal symptoms I hunted down the lone thermometer in my house. It proved along with the symptoms and no AMBITION that I did have a fever. My Dad always told me if I sucked on a "fever stick" long enough I would get well. That is what I have been doing the last few days, and I think it is finally starting to work.
Rest and clear fluids, and dash of cranberry juice will get me though.
Passion is a sort of fever in the mind, which ever leaves us weaker than it found us. William Penn
What will it take for our country?
Calming thoughts can be a cure. There has to be a change in our hearts. But we have to start with what we listen to, and what we see and take in to be true. But we cannot rule out justice. We have been wronged.
Perhaps by people you care most dearly. There will be consequences, and some of that has begun. Some will be put on the "no fly list" for life. Some will be arrested. Some will try to gain fame from the actions they took at the capitol. They had a fever. And that fever could have been fatal to this country, our democracy just like our bodies are fragile.
The miracle each of us is, the amazing parts and systems we have that crisscross and allow us to get up in the morning and have the ultimate opportunity to make that day the best it can be, for us personally and for the real live chance to do for others just because.
This fever will pass. We can drink those fluids, bundle up in our beds and keep thinking 'well' thoughts but Rudyard Kipling nailed it when he said, "Words are, of course, the most powerful drug used by mankind.” And perhaps taking time to visit with your neighbors and relatives and talk through the trauma and the feverish feelings they may have been experiencing. We can lower the temperature by using that powerful drug, WORDS.
Be a real man, or gentlewoman and remember to continue wearing masks. Oklahoma was not represented well last week when our own representative failed to accept a mask and remained unmasked in a pandemic and so far 3 others have tested positive for COVID19 who were sequestering with that group in the Nation's capitol.
Take care of yourself, wear a mask and help us save lives.
Respectfully Submitted ~ Rebecca Jim