HOW LONG CAN WE GO ON LIKE THIS?
I’m losing track of the weeks, days and hours that we’ve all been locked down. Every day has an eerily predictable quality. The usual distractions that would have me eagerly leaving my house are now far and few between. No malls, shopping centers, restaurants, movie theaters, hair salons, manicures, etc. Luckily I’m an avid reader, writer and movie watcher, so there are plenty of in-home distractions.
What I won’t spend hours doing each day, is listening to death count tallies, watching the parade of fatalities enveloped in body bags being wheeled into large freezers outside of hospitals, or read another story about a person who was misdiagnosed as not having COVID-19 and went on to die from it only days later. I won’t watch the guy in the White House being pacified by people that refuse to speak the truth about this nightmare, while he insists on gratifying his enormous out of control ego.
While his name is being printed on checks, the overwhelmingly vast majority of Americans no longer have jobs, which means they no longer have food to feed their families, pay their car notes or rent. It’s great that business owners are receiving thousands of dollars in free money, but how far will $1,200 go to buy food and pay for living expenses? In many cities, that won’t be enough to pay one month of rent on a single apartment, much less a mortgage payment. The toilet paper manufacturers say there’s no shortage of toilet paper. Okay, well, can they tell us where they are hiding it because it sure isn’t on the grocery shelves?
I could say so much more, but I won’t. I know that we are all stressed, not knowing when this surreal world will end. So we repeat the new science-fiction language we’ve been provided: self-quarantine, social isolation, and maintain safe distancing. We strap on our masks, smooth on the plastic gloves, pack our hand sanitizers and continue the search for the basic necessities; toilet paper, disinfectant,and fresh produce.
The medical professionals and all the other essential workers have emerged as the self-sacrificing heroes in all of this. We see the toll it is taking on them and value their commitment even when it involves forfeiting their own family time and endangering their own health. They are the incredible front line soldiers in this battle and they are going to need our continued support and gratitude.
What are your thoughts? Do you think the world will ever be the same? What about travel? I use to love cruising. Not really feeling it right now. Not sure about it in the for seeable future. There’s a whole group of Americans who don’t know that we use to be able to board a plane without having to take off our shoes and jackets or be x-rayed. We could also greet our families as they exited the plane. We’d stand in the waiting area, with flowers in our hands and smiles on our faces, happy that they had a safe journey and safely made it back home. All of those liberties were erased, only to become distant memories of a safer time. I can hardly wait for this plague to be a thing of the past, —that one day, it too will be a distant memory.
