Taking daily drives has truly been one of the failsafe mechanisms of coping these days. During the drives we can truly appreciate some of the positive outcomes of this cursed pandemic—the virtual vanishing of heavy traffic conditions, the sky is bluer, the water looks cleaner, even the litter situation is better.
On a recent sunny day, a drive down the Belt Parkway to the Veranzzano Bridge gave birth to a fabulous idea— at least it seemed so at the time. “We are awfully close to Coney Island. How about a curbside pickup at Nathan’s.”
Obviously such a suggestion would never lead to protestation and so off the parkway we went, winding through the vacant streets approaching the famed hot dog haven.
The first clue that this might not be such a great idea was the traffic building on the side street nearest the intended stop. But still persistent and inching up to the turn, there remained a glimmer of hope. But the line of double and triple parked cars provided some more sense of the wet blanket effect and as we took to the outside lane to do the drive by, it became painfully evident. There would be no Nathan’s hot dogs today, none of the famed French fries. Not today and perhaps not for a very long time.
Slowing the car down to really try to capture the unbelievable image before us showed a very frightening and painful truth about why this pandemic has “more legs” than we’d like to admit or worse recognize.
Hundreds of Nathan-goers were there online, some with less than six inches of distance between them; many without masks, acting as though if you were to ask them if they had heard of Covid-19, all you would get in return would be a blank stare.
Children, unprotected, were atop the shoulders of their parents anxiously pointing at things on the picture menu, people exchanging words, looks and saliva droplets freely amongst each other. Yes there were people who were protected by PPE of some sorts, but as we have learned by the astronomical death toll and the hospitalization rates cause by this virus, one bad apple can totally screw the whole bunch.
Looking away from the crowd, there parked at the corner of the street was a beacon of hope. In all its blue and white finery there it was: an NYPD sector car. “They’ll take care of this, that’s for sure”. And in almost the same breath, I noticed a patrol officer standing away from the car. I was so paralyzed by the shock of what I saw that I failed my profession by not snapping a picture. The officer, whom I would have counted on to speak to the unmasked Nathan eaters to step away from each other and the restaurant, was himself unmasked, ungloved. One might ask what exactly he might have in mind—was he looking to become another tragic statistic of loss in the NYPD.
The good thing about this instance was it was the first and only time I have seen an member of the NYPD acting with such blatant disregard for rules to protect lives since the onset of the pandemic. But it suddenly became evident as to why the people in and around Nathan’s thought their behavior was acceptable.
Maybe it’s time we all gave serious consideration and made the effort to lead by example.
Unless of course we’d like to stay home forever.
