For a long time I hesitated to write about the pandemic currently sweeping most of the world. I felt there was nothing left to say about it. It is all anyone talks about. It has changed the way we work, or if we work. It has changed the way we socialize, shop, eat, drink, entertain ourselves etc. Basically, in a few short months, our lives have been changed as we know it. A frightening aspect of this is that we don’t know for how long. I’m not sure if anything more can be said about it, but as a new blogger, I don’t know how I can ignore this truly unique, frigthening and life changing event. So I will attempt to discuss it from my specific lens. Because while this horrible virus attacks everyone equally, from a physical point of view, it still affects each of us in a unique way. Each of us has a story, different, and yet the same. I see this virus as a huge tapestry and each of our stories adds threads to create the whole design.
One possibly “good” thing or maybe I shouldn’t say “good”, perhaps unique would be a better term, is that this virus is the great equalizer. It knows no religion, nationality, ethnicity, academic, professional, political or economic status. Around the virtual water cooler, the conversation is the same; what do you think about this virus?? People discuss where to get necessities, particularly toilet paper and hand-sanitizer. I can understand hand sanitizer, but why the run on toilet paper?? Why hoard it? Is this virus making people so nervous, they get the BG’s?? ( bubble gut, as we refer to nervous stomach in my family) But I digress. Whereas people used to discuss sports, movies, work, children, the new conversation revolves around which restaurants are open for carry out, how best to shop for groceries, where to purchase masks and gloves etc.
An entirely new language is being formed based on the way words are being combined. Phrases like “social distancing”, “virtual meetings”, “flattening the curve” now find themselves peppered into sentences spoken by the average person, even those who previously spoke in only monosyllables. People are using words like “mitigate” and “ventilators” in every day language. “Zoom” is no longer a verb but a virtual meeting place. Truck drivers, postal workers, grocery store workers have joined medical workers as our new heroes, proving what many should have realized long ago: That celebrities and professional athletes make a fortune, but contribute nothing when the chips are down. Teachers are asked to do the impossible, teach online. This may sound ridiculous but I am not talking about High School and college students, but Preschool and elementary school students. How are preschool special education students to learn in a google classroom? How are social and language skills to be taught online when children don’t know how to use the programs? That brings me to parents. How are parents, many of whom are working at home, many of whom have multiple children, supposed to dedicate so many hours to helping their children navigate the online classrooms? When schools were closed for the remainder of the year, were these things even considered? Parents who home schooled their children and were formerly thought of as nerds or radicals, are now being sought out to help public school parents who find themselves in the unfamiliar territory of homeschooling. Our entire culture is being changed by one virus.
And I can’t help but wonder how this will change us moving forward. The doctors have made it clear that hand washing and not touching our faces is the best way to protect us from this virus. Isn’t that something that can be done after this pandemic is over?? Wouldn’t those precautions, coupled with not shaking hands, be a great way to stop the flu from spreading? Will we do these things once the pandemic is over, or just resort to our old habits, until the next deadly pandemic is upon us? And while we’re on the subject, how will we end this pandemic? We are all isolating, which means no one is building up immunities to this beast. How then, can we keep it from spreading once again, when businesses reopen??? And despite what many people think, businesses must reopen. Our economy cannot survive much longer. The government cannot keep printing paper money indefinitely.The stock market needs to rebound. People need to pay bills, go back to work, school and be able to retire. We cannot keep putting off doctor’s visits and “optional” surgeries or treatments. If we wait too long, those treatments will no longer be optional. In fact, I wonder how many people have life threatening illnesses that are not being treated? Will putting off a mammogram result in more cases of breast cancer? Will not having a routine EKG result in undiagnosed heart defects? We need to get back to normal or at least find a new normal, but the question that remains is: How do we do that without starting another wave of this virus? The whole thing is making my head spin.
I will say though, that this experience has made me feel so grateful for what I have. I try not to complain, but I still find myself doing so, or rather I did, until the other night when I was surfing the TV. I found “The Diary of Anne Frank” and after that, the documentary about her diary. This book had always touched me as a child, and it still does. I watched a young girl and her family, live for three years in a tiny apartment, above a business. They could not make a sound during the day and had to be relatively quiet, even at night. They had no internet, no cable television, no kindles, no smart phones and music or video games. They could not have Door Dash deliver food to their doors, nor order groceries online for curbside pickup. They had to rely on friends bringing them whatever food and clothing they could smuggle in. And they did it for years. That put things into perspective for me and I realized while challenging, I have little to complain about. My heart goes out to those suffering in the hospital and forced to die alone, because no one is allowed in the hospital. It is unbearable for the patients, but what of their families? They are forced to sit by, not being able to comfort loved ones and in many cases, not being able to be given comfort of their own. There is so much pain surrounding this and I remain grateful that while inconvenienced, I am relatively unscathed.
Our country will go on once this is over, but will it ever be the same? In some ways, I hope not. I hope we keep some of the lessons we’ve learned. I hope we remember that good hygiene is something that should always be practiced. I hope we remember that we can rediscover relationships by talking to one another, not because we still have to, but because now we want to. I hope we still look out for each other; sharing supplies that we have, offering to shop for those who can’t. I hope we no longer take our health for granted. I hope we learn that we have more in common with each other and that knowledge eases the partisan divide that has taken over our country in the last 2 decades. I hope we learn that if we hoard, many people will not get what they need. I hope we learn that we can get by with less things and learn to simplify our lives, focusing on what is important. There are so many things I hope for but right now, I’m hopeful that Walmart or Amazon will have toilet paper in stock again soon!!!
New Endings 