It’s August, and the world is still in one piece. Though, certainly not in peace. Not at all. August is kind of a bad month, historically speaking. Even in years with no pandemic, federal troop invasions or murder hornets.
Jerry Garcia died on August 9th. The Grateful Dead was more than a musical act they were a machine that turned melody and magic into flowing rivers of emotion and joy. And the dynamo that powered the transformation was Jerry Garcia. It was possible to dislike The Grateful Dead, I know several people who make the claim, their loss, I suppose. Jerry Garcia is quoted as saying “we’re like black licorice, not everybody likes black licorice, but the people who like black licorice really like black licorice.” The world grew a little more dismal that day.
Richard Nixon resigned on August 9th 1974. Technically, that was a bright spot in the year, but anytime a president resigns and it looks bright there had to be a terrible darkness beforehand. There was. It was an administration that viewed opponents as enemies of the state and decried the press as story telling charlatans who didn’t mind lying to sell newspapers or smear an elected official (history on a loop?). It ended with a bungled, amateurish break-in by an FBI agent who, following his time in prison, turned into a conservative radio talk show host. Only in America.
Both atomic bombs were dropped in August. If you look hard enough you can still see the shadows cast by the mushroom clouds hanging over the conscience of the American public. 225,000 casualties were reported and many experts consider those numbers tragically conservative.
On August 3rd, 1914 Germany and France declared war. It was the start of a brutal, grinding campaign of digging, hiding, trench foot, and death by gas and artillery barrage. It was a war that chewed up soldiers while they sat in a hole in the ground. Whole divisions were slaughtered to gain a few precious feet of ground, only to face the same awful conditions. When it ended 7 years later 20 million people were dead and 21 million more wounded.
August is the first month of hurricane season. It was the month in which the infamous Chicago Democratic National Convention was held. The Watts race riots in Las Angeles were in August.
The list is long. Now we can add Donald Trump’s “it is what it is” reaction to the death of a thousand people a day. I can’t wait until August is over.
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