Shelter in Place, San Francisco, California, September 3, 2020

Over the fence and across the yard, my neighbors’ bougainvillea is positively riotous. I am jealous of both density and color. Ours is far less thick this year and half the bright red leaves have already fallen to the ground. I’m guessing it’s because next door they have an underground watering system while we water less systematically and only when we remember. For obvious reasons, of late I’ve let the garden down. How lucky we are, then, to be able to enjoy the volume of color that our friends have tended, and to eat the apples that they are happy to share. Neighbors matter. Good ones matter even more. This is true in our immediate surroundings and in the greater world we are a part of.

A friend in Paris wrote me a succinct but anguished email yesterday which roughly translates: “This is so worrying. The whole world is counting on the Democrats because we don’t know what Trump is capable of doing if he’s given free rein!” We have become a dangerous, rogue nation that seems to care nothing for our global neighbors or for the earth itself, and it breaks my heart. The United States has forfeited its good name and positive influence under the current administration. Worse, we’ve become the pariah nation that everybody fears. Unreliable. Erratic. Selfish. Cold hearted. In short, bad neighbors. How do I respond? Just telling my friend I’m sorry is simply not enough. We need to vote!