Where can we possibly begin?
We’re in the middle of a s**t storm unlike… well just unlike.
We never saw it coming; we’re sick of it; what the hell am I going to cook tonight?; we hate it; does anyone really know what they’re talking about?; how am I going to buy food?; I can’t believe how much weight I’ve gained; my wife died alone in the hospital; is there a major political conspiracy?; is God teaching us a lesson—will we learn anything from it?; are the schools opening?; can I get a mani-pedi at the same time with two technicians?; I missed my mammogram;I had to cancel my wedding, but it’s happening in 2021;I don’t have enough money for groceries; I can’t see my grandmother in the nursing home; my kid was a week away from his black belt in March; I love being home—I just wish my husband and my kids had their own home; my son was 35—I thought young people weren’t supposed to get it; don’t forget to use the sanitizer—wait isn’t soapy water better?;what’s a furlough?;I haven’t seen my newborn baby yet.
That’s just a miniscule list of attempting to define a portion of the spectrum of the last seven months;a dishing out of physical, emotional, financial, psychological burdens—and other burdens that have yet to be named.
I’m not addressing any specific issues in this editorial; I guess I am just writing down some of the source of my own apprehension and fright. Remembering back to when the mass panic set in over needing 40,000 ventilators, when we were told to wear masks, and then that it wasn’t necessary, and that now, of course, it is;when we needed naval hospitals to dock in harbors to accommodate the crushing flow of patients;when it was yet still undecided as to whether we needed to sanitize the boxes that were being dropped off by FedEx, UPS, Amazon, Pea Pod, and any other carrier in the field. And how about those groceries?
It’s understandable that we would all be confused and frustrated.
Changing the course of direction so frequently does not inspire confidence. “Experts” that jump on and off the bandwagon on matters ranging from medicine and science to the stock market, the education system—you name it.Every aspect of our lives has been altered and many times by those best likened to an unqualified seamstress at the sewing machine. Straight answers seem to be missing from the protocol.
I would prefer not to risk my life by getting the virus, going into the hospital, laying there like the proverbial dog, all alone in the bed with my tubes, desperately hoping a FaceTime call will go through on an already dying battery—when I left for the hospital by myself, I forgot the charger—needing a vent and having it hooked up by someone who is holding a manual trying to figure how it works, praying fervently that I will return home.
If that sounds gloomy and paranoid to you, then I hit my mark. Thankfully, through the grace of God, I have figured out a remedy for the recurring nightmare described above.
I’m going to wash my hands, socially distance myself, and wear my mask.
You should too.
