went for a walk in the park this morning. that park is going to be my
source of peace and serenity for the time that I live here.

Did a short meditation this morning. I'm out of practice. But it was
nice setting up in the backyard in the shade of the oak tree. When I
cleared my mind, it felt like I mostly just created space for a
pervasive sadness to well up and be felt.

---

my partner is the head of human resources at a very large
corporation, and they're getting lots of emails right now from
employees that are requesting / demanding that the company do
something, or make some kind of statement about the george floyd
protests.

I am seeming a lot of other companies making statements. And I think
that if you have a large platform that reaches a lot of people, then
using that platform to deliver anti-racist messaging is a good use of
your platform. But I also continue to mistrust any kind of such
messaging from large corporations. e.g. Blizzard coming out and
supporting the black lives matter protests after punishing players
for supporting the protests in Hong Kong [1].

I want to support people being late to make the right choices. At
least they're here now, and on the right side now, right? I don't
want to discourage somebody from changing their mind or their stance
and doing the right thing later on. But I also just don't believe the
Blizzards of the world right now. I don't believe they are late to
the game. I believe they are capitalizing on an opportunity to
enhance their image and their brand and make sales.

Anyway, I do think that those with a platform should be using it
right now to combat racism and denounce police militarization and
brutality.

And if the Blizzards of the world are fighting racism for the wrong
reasons (for making profits and not for justice and equality) then,
whatever. They're still doing good by amplifying the message, so I'll
take their good. I still don't trust them though.

The American Company is a wholly bizarre entity that is like the new
church for a lot people, and in which people invest way too much of
their identity and their expectations. The reason for this is because
of how the company provides things people need to live: wages and
health insurance. And it often provides thing people need to thrive:
friends and a social network. And these things together make the
workplace feel like it could be the ultimate source of all things
that the employee needs. The one single provider.

Which brings me back to my original thought, which is this: my
partner is getting slammed with all these emails from people who
suffering real and actual mental and physical duress during this
crisis, and they are pointed messages, bordering on accusatory that
the company hasn't fulfilled its obligation to responded or create a
message, and I'm questioning the existence of that obligation.

What do people really want their companies to do right now? What are
the expected outcomes? To post "Black Lives Matter" somewhere? Sure
there is some value in amplifying anti-racist messaging. But what
else do people want their companies to *do*?

The American Company is not set up to accomplish anything meaningful in
this situation. Nor should they be expected to. Companies exist to
make money. People should be contacting their local and state
politicians if they want stuff to get done and be accomplished.
Politicians exist to pass laws to protect people. Messaging and
action by your legistlature carries actual weight. A well-meaning or
phony message from a corporation is comparatively ineffective.

[1]: https://www.reddit.com/r/news/comments/gv2x7u/blacklivesmatter_blizzards_hypocrisy_enrages/