On social media, I posed the question this past week, “Is THIS what retirement is like?”
Since we’ve all been restricted from going to work as we try to socially distance ourselves from each other, it’s been a crazy few weeks. Being idle isn’t fun and I know retired people are generally busier than how I’ve been feeling lately.
I kind of compared this COVID-19 crisis as an extremely bad winter blizzard approaching, and we’re about to get clobbered by feet of snow.
We all know that feeling, especially when the word comes down that the snow system is approaching. The first thing that happens is sudden panic and everyone rushes to the grocery story to stock up with food. The exception this time is, in addition to food, there has been this quirky need for toilet paper. I’m still shaking my head on why.
You have to admit, this pandemic almost has the same qualities of a blizzard on its way with the exception of it actually snowing.
After the stores are cleared out of food, there is the anticipation of the snow arriving – with that there is a calm, you know, like the calm before the storm.
Eventually the storm arrives and we just sit around our houses, trapped like rats (what does that mean anyway?) before the long storm is over.
Finally the blizzard passes, and it’s time to get out and shovel and plow and snow throw.
There is the feeling of being paralyzed and you can’t really go anywhere except to keep digging out at your property.
I feel as if we are at the part where the snow has arrived and we’re all just sitting around, glued to our TVs waiting to be informed on where the storm is, how it’s affected the people to the west or south of us, how devastating the storm has been in property damage or even death.
Sitting and waiting for the blizzard to pass by is always a time of anticipation with one difference from the current pandemic, we know the storm will eventually pass over us and head out to sea in most cases. With COVID-19, we have no idea when it will pass over us and when it will move out to sea. So we sit and we wait.
It was suggested on social media to not listen to media, well, I don’t know about you, but who are we going to listen to in regards to the pandemic?
During a great blizzard, we naturally tune in to our local TV channels to get an idea what’s happening locally and surely we watch The Weather Channel for the national take and to see how their forecasting compares with our local meteorologists.
If we can’t rely on media, what source or sources can we reach out to in order to see how bad the blizzard will be?
I know when it comes time for politics, either one side or the other, meaning the political right or the political left, will cry foul regarding coverage or interpretation. I guess the term these days is “fake news.”
Thankfully with predicting weather, there’s no partisanship – the weather is the weather and it’s based on science. Politics is a totally different animal. It’s very subjective, often misleading and there’s a ton of spin involved.
COVID-19 is a term invented by the World Health Organization (WHO), which is an acronym for coronavirus disease of 2019.
It was suggested that COVID-19 stood for Chinese Originated Viral Infectious Disease and 19 stands for the 19th virus to emanate from China. WRONG!
This is what happens when people have too much time on their hands and create hatred and deception, and confusion.
Being home with family under the circumstances isn’t such a bad idea and if you want my opinion, this has brought us all a little closer together and I don’t mean in proximity to each other.
The pandemic has been humbling, and it’s let us know it has no boundaries in the face of death.
We are not above the law, above religion, above our fellow man.
If anything, we’re finding out we’re just human, equal, and we’re all in this together.
It amazes me, even in times of uncertainty on how this will all play out, politics still rears it’s ugly head. We saw this when the federal government was trying to hammer out the $2 trillion lifeline to citizens and businesses.
It’s been said over the month or so, the USA is about 3 weeks behind Italy and Spain and as I write this the number of deaths have not decline in either country. It would seem for us, by the middle of April or so, perhaps we can see a shift in numbers as our rates of new cases and deaths seem to be on an uphill climb.
It’s all about flattening the curve and it seems the best way to do that is through social distancing, isolation and quarantine. In other words, just stay home as much as possible.
The blizzard of 2020 is here and we have a way to go before it passes out to sea, so just relax, be with your family, feel humble, pray for those infected and hope this goes out to sea quickly.
And for Pete’s sake, stop hoarding toilet paper.
Quote of the week
“Never forget the three powerful resources you always have available to you: Love, prayer and forgiveness.” – H. Jackson Brown, Jr.
Thought of the week
“I always like to look on the optimistic side of life, but I’m realistic enough to know that life is a complex matter.” – Walt Disney
Bumper sticker
“Perpetual optimism is a force multiplier.” – Colin Powell
