As the weeks of quarantine start to mount up, there is no doubt that we are feeling the pressure of the limitations imposed by Covid-19. The rays of hope that we get on a daily basis when witnessing the actions of everyday heroes sacrificing for our good, is something that really helps to ease the stress and tension. It gives us hope and reminds us that there is much good in the world.
Those sacrifices help put into perspective what we are really dealing with. But then there are other perspectives that seem to be completely removed from reality. They are the perspectives that dull those rays of hope and put all of us at risk.
You can witness those by turning on the TV or watching a video of Georgia’s Gov. Brian Kemp when he announced his decision to reopen business in his state, including gyms, tattoo parlors, nail salons, massage parlors and bowling alleys among others––providing of course, that social distancing and hygiene are maintained. I for one have to say that as much as I long to return to my weekly massages, I don’t think getting one from six feet away would really prove therapeutic. Or how about a mani-pedi from across the room? And although I do not subscribe to getting tattoos, I would imagine that even the most inked among us would be a little hesitant to have anything etched into their skin from a distance. Clearly, life-saving social distancing cannot be upheld under certain circumstances.
Here on a local level I was both shocked and totally disgusted when during a weekend drive through Rockaway, residents were observed, with their children in tow, walking through the streets, maskless and gloveless, on handball courts and in parks and along the boardwalk with no regard for viral hygiene, social distancing or any other measures in place to save lives. My life. Your life. Not just their lives. Is it possible that these people just don’t care?
There are two words I hope not to hear come from my grandchildren’s mouths: stupid and moron. The connotations to me are so distasteful, however it seems that every time I get out in my car and see the way some people are behaving, I am finding occasion to use both of them so frequently it’s truly disturbing.
I doubt very much whether it would be possible to find someone who would admit to being very happy or satisfied with the current state of life. Someone who was happy to be out of work or unable to pay their mortgage or rent. Or others who were happy to be cut off from their family and friends. From hugging their grandkids. But we can get back what we are missing now if we do what we must.
Everyone wants to return to normal but this fight is so much bigger than us on so many levels that it would be a disaster of monumental proportions if we rush getting back to things as we once knew them.
I am hoping for the government to tighten restrictions as much as necessary––not relax them. And I am looking for careless individuals to stop their disrespect of those of us who are holding to that which keeps everyone safe. We all remember the request that came from authorities in reporting on terrorism: If You See Something, Say Something. If you are in a space or situation where someone is not observing that which will keep you safe that you’d better SAY SOMETHING, loud and clear.
We’re all looking toward having our world back but let’s make sure we are alive to see that happen. We must not rush. Thinking that because the curve is flattened you can go out and forget all the guidelines is ignorant. Now we realize we’ve always been told that ignorance is bliss but these are Covid-19 times where ignorance is lethal.
