I can see just by the title how long it's been since I've written anything. (A shout-out to my FB friend Colleen, who told me this morning that she missed my virus updates.)
I don't know if what I'm seeing right now is more of man's unlimited capacity for unselfishness and service or man's unlimited capacity for stupidity and nastiness.
Of the former, we see/hear it every day as we hear/see the stories of doctors, nurses, and other medical personnel on the front lines fighting this illness. I see it when I see my preacher posting podcasts and hear him doing his sermons week after week, and our tech team making it possible for him to do so. I see it when I see people wearing Instacart T-shirts, and when I watch commercials (like I am right now) that honor the people who are working round the clock. I see it when my son goes to his class website and his teacher has faithfully posted the class assignment for today, and when she does her Google Meet sessions with her students.
Of the latter, well, I see too much of it online, especially when it comes to "reopening the economy". It's like, if we open up the economy now, "OMG, we're all gonna die!" Or, if we keep the economy shut, "OMG, we're all gonna die!"
Our governor, Brian Kemp, has decided to let his shelter-in-place order expire on April 30th. On Friday, selected businesses -- nail salons, barber shops, and others will be allowed to reopen, following social distancing guidelines. Houses of worship will be allowed to reopen, again, following social distancing guidelines.
There are the angry people screaming, "It's too soon!" and the other angry people screaming back, "People need to make a living!" (And I am not happy with the name calling I see on Facebook.)
I don't know what to think. I'm not an elected official, I'm not a doctor, I'm not an economist.
I've been dealing with my own total frustrations over the past couple of days. My son's very anxious about using technology (although he can stream video just fine :-) ) His anxiety rubs off on me, mine rubs off on him. And when I get anxious, it takes me nearly half the day to come down from the anxiety.
I'm also terribly frustrated because the projects I want to do aren't getting done. I've had to switch office areas with my husband, and trying to get mine organized has been an exhibit of the Second Law of Thermodynamics: all closed systems tend to maximize disorder!
So today, after dealing with computer problems and trying to come down from a high level of anxiety, I decided to go shopping and go take a walk at a nearby park. We needed groceries and I needed exercise.
I wore a mask for the first time. It's an N95 that we had in the garage, one with a piece of metal at the top to help the mask hold its shape. Said piece of metal also dug into the bridge of my nose the entire time I was wearing it. Ow. (Perhaps no picture speaks so strongly to the physical toll of this epidemic on medical personnel than the picture of a nurse's face bruised from the effects of wearing a face mask. And I'll bet they don't get the chance to have their face heal before they have to put a new one on!)
The major thing I noticed wearing this mask?
People can't see you smile.
That definitely stank.
After doing my shopping, I went to the park and did two laps around the pond (which equals approximately one mile). And here was where I saw the personification of mankind's unlimited capacity for stupidity.
The park I went to has a playground.
Which is taped off with yellow crime scene tape.
Which a person old enough to know better had crawled under in order to climb on the playground equipment!
Okay, maybe I should have said something. I didn't. I wasn't sure if it would have done any good. But if I had said something, it would have been, "Excuse me, but what part of 'playground closed' do you not understand?"
This is why we can't have nice things, people.
And it's also why, if there is a second wave of illness, it's going to be as bad, if not worse than, the first wave.
So, let's all raise our voices together:
It's the end of the world as we know it
It's the end of the world as we know it
It's the end of the world as we know it
And I feel fine!
Just my .04, adjusted for inflation.
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