SELF-ISOLATION, DAY 10

Or: RISKY LIVING IN A HIGH RISK GROUP!

Hello my friends and relatives, and anyone who accidentally reads this on my blog, DocRambo. I am sorry if this is kind of boring. I was thinking earlier today that the title I arbitrarily, and kind of logically chose, “Self-Isolation,” would not win a Pulitzer Prize. Not even the Nobel Prize in Literature. Maybe my essay yesterday, Day 9, would have sounded more interesting if I had titled it “Screwing Geese.” It might have gone viral. I might have received phone calls from publishers or movie companies. At least You Tube. Oh God, I think I am getting punchy.

My intention was to start writing earlier. But I am easily distracted. My friend who has the chronic illness; I mentioned her; needed me to run an errand for her. She is on strict isolation and I used to visit her at least once a week and we would eat soup together or sometimes watch TV. So I went by, picked up a package for her to bring to her safe deposit box at the bank. That is more complicated now, which is good. I made an appt by phone, then went to the bank and had to be let in. I touched almost nothing. At her house I just talked from the doorway, into her house, so we did not get close. She cannot afford to catch the virus. Then I picked up some soup from another friend who made a big pot and gave me 3 containers of it. I am doing fine for food. Just that fruits and vegetables don’t last too long. All together I am fine in spite of my risky age-group; living alone with my dog is ok. Just the work bothers me a bit. But someone has to work in the grocery stores. I thanked the mail delivery man from Post Office for coming to work anyway. Said thanks. What about garbage truck drivers? What would you do if no one picked up your garbage? Ever think of that? Maybe put it in your neighbor’s yard. No, my friends are not like that; just a thought.

So, it is late in the day and I have my second wind. Getting serious for a moment, our state and local politicians in Illinois are doing well. It seems that Governor Pritzker is doing all he can to meet the challenge, and Mayor Lori Lightfoot of Chicago really is showing her mettle. Her news conference today was no-holds barred and she said what needed to be said. So, people in groups have been cavorting and enjoying life in groups, which scientists, like women and men who spend years studying to help their fellow humans, instead of partying every weekend, yeah, so really smart people have been telling us SHELTER IN PLACE!! Like really! You see China, you see Italy. Philadelphia, 1918, decided, even though news of the flu pandemic was out, they decided to go ahead and have their parade, full of soldiers, some with the flu virus. Resulted in thousands of deaths. OK, maybe they did not understand the virus that well. Evidently St. Louis was more cautious and had a much better outcome. So some people, Governor Cuomo, Governor Pritzger, our Mayor Lightfoot, are batting 1000 in dealing with a situation that is not their fault. Some government officials not so much. As I have said I am not trying to turn this into a political debate, which is not to say I do not have opinions, or that everyone in government is doing what they should. We are lucky we do have some intelligent and principled professionals like Dr Fauci, to name just one, who knock it out of the park whenever he opens his mouth. By the way (btw to you youngsters), what’s with my baseball analogies? I must be American or something, but I flunked Little League. Seriously. I could never hit a ball with a stick. None of those sports.

Anyway, I had some thoughts today about why people, some, or many, refuse to listen to experts, or refuse to believe that things are really bad. Although I studied for many years, and I read a lot, like, books, of course I don’t know. But, I have opinions. Part of why we act dumb may be our Wild West mentality. Whereby, not all of the USA was the Wild West. But there is some prevalence, not everyone, a prevalence of an attitude that “I can do anything I want, I’m an American!” We are a great big country, almost like an island, a continent for ourselves, so we may feel isolated or insulated, from the rest of the world. But… guess what folks? Times have changed and we really do have to live together. Take responsibility for each other. We can’t just have shoot-outs on Main St. Which reminds me that I have read that gun and ammo stores have  BOOMING sales! Wow, that did it. Some people will maybe send me death threats. Are you planning on killing your neighbor if he or she tries to steal your food or toilet paper? I’m serious. Maybe this goes further back than the frontier days to the cave men. Perhaps they needed to be so protective of their families and tribes because there were so many dangers. And we just have not gotten over it yet. I do not hate people. At least not many. I am only human. But, my God we have to pull together. This is a very minor thing, but I work in a suburb. In Chicago, I believe plastic bags were banned. Some whole countries have done this, in an effort to help the environment. Anyway, whenever I have to help out with bagging, we ask “paper or plastic?” of the customer at the cash register. There is no unified answer. Anyone who reads about the environment at all knows that plastic is a problem. Some want paper, some plastic, and some bring their reusable bags, which I appreciate and generally thank people for doing. One time the man answered “ plastic is fine. I don’t want to save the environment.” Now…I do think we should all try to do just that. No one person can save it, but each in our own way, WE SHOULD TRY TO SAVE THE ENVIRONMENT.” I don’t want to” should not be one of the answers! Well, I am just a low-wage dufus and he was a customer so I did not respond at all. He was just one guy. Don’t know his name so he can’t sue me anyway.

So, I am reaching my ending for the day. I need to finish putting the soup away and doing my dishes, take a shower, do a little meditation, and get ready for tomorrow. No one I know has died from the COVID-19. I do not want anyone to do that, but, many people will die. Then, our society will return to some new kind of normal. But, why cannot we understand that “Normal” should be that we are aware of each other, that the Earth is really a very small planet in an incredibly vast Universe, we need to take care of it and each other!  Please.

Be safe, stay well, believe in the higher powers. We can do this.

David, March 26, 2020

(I added the sub-title after I finished).