There is no doubt about the impact\nthis virus is having on daily life, and I am sure there is still much hardship up\nahead. My small state, in the last three days, went from five cases, to\nfourteen, and now to twenty cases. With a population of over a million, that is\na 0.002% rate of infection. The governor has closed all public schools for a\nweek and mobilized the National Guard and stores are experiencing huge surges\nof hoard-shopping. It has grown quite chaotic over the last few days. Ordinarily\nI would be writing about an overreaction and shaking my head at the chaos.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
But I am not.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
I am not because I have watching how\nmy fellow citizens have been reacting to this and that has poisoned my faith,\nat least a little bit. The closing of schools remains contentious among many\nand there are equally sound arguments being put forth on both the positive side\nof it and the negative side of it. But it does absolutely nothing but kill the\nconcept if you don\u2019t keep the children at home. But they won\u2019t; the movies will\nbe packed, the fun zones such as trampoline places and arcades will be packed,\nand the stores will be full of not just hoarders but their children now as\nwell. Because people just don\u2019t get it \u2013 at least some number of them. <\/p>\n\n\n\n
People were beseeched not to hoard-shop\n\u2013 just get what you need to last you a week or two. Shelves are being emptied\nas quickly as the stores can restock them. And of all things, toilet paper!\nThere is nothing about this virus that increases a demand for this product. But\nthe news media plastered stories of toilet paper shortages from elsewhere in\nthe world \u2013 regardless of the causes there that do not apply here \u2013 and people\nlistened and started buying it in mass quantities out of panic. And of course\nthe stores ran out \u2013 a self-fulfilling prophecy if I ever saw one. I went on\nAmazon today and someone is selling an eight-roll pack of toilet paper for\n$250. Price gouging if there ever was. <\/p>\n\n\n\n
I was in the local grocery store\nyesterday and an elderly woman (yes \u2013 elderly to even this old Wolff!) who had\nfour or five things was behind us; we had a wagonful of the usual weekly stuff,\nso I had her go in front of us and we began to chat. She laughed about the\ncraziness of it all and said she had only come for a handful of things she was\nout of, including toilet paper. But of course, there was no toilet paper. She\nwas down to her last roll and sighed that she didn\u2019t know what she\u2019d do. When I\nwas done and in the parking lot, I saw a young, healthy woman with the tailgate\nup on her Lexus SUV loading at least six huge multi-roll packs of toilet paper\ninto the back. And an equal number of giant paper towel packs. Now this is her\nright \u2013 she can certainly buy whatever she wants. But she, and a handful of\nothers, emptied the shelf and left none for the rest of their fellow residents.\n<\/p>\n\n\n\n
These days it is decidedly a \u201cme-first\u201d\nmentality; I\u2019ve written of this in the past. And I am not singling out just one\ngeneration \u2013 I believe the selfishness of our society transcends age and generation.\nThere has been a huge outcry over testing \u2013 delayed, not enough, and so forth.\nTrue or not, fact or fiction, red or blue, they are testing now. But each state\nhas different policies on how it works. Colorado opened up a drive-thru testing\ncenter for people who wanted to be tested and they had to shut it down after\nonly two hours because the demand was so great. There was a four-hour line of\ncars waiting within the first hour of opening because everyone and their\nbrother wanted to be tested. And if by some miracle, they had enough tests and\nadequate capacity to handle the volume, there would be a number of people who would\nbe driving through to be tested a couple of times every day, because \u201cI have a\ntickle in my throat\u201d or because \u201csomeone\nin the hardware store sneezed in the next aisle\u201d or because \u201cmy barber\u2019s\nneighbor\u2019s cousin might have it\u201d. Because \u201cme\u201d before all others. <\/p>\n\n\n\n
It is a society of \u201crules are for\neveryone except me\u201d and \u201cmy needs (sometimes called their rights) outweigh\nyours\u201d. Our town just passed a law that prohibits smoking on all town properties\nsuch as playgrounds and the beach. This was posted on Facebook and what a war\nit began! One person actually wrote that I\u2019ll smoke wherever I want and if you and\nyour kid don\u2019t like the smell of my smoke, then move!\u201d Her right to smoke and\nblow her second-hand smoke at others comes first \u2013 above all other\u2019s rights.\n(As if smoking is a right!) I smoked for over 40 years and never felt I had a\nright to smoke near people; especially after they educated us on the dangers of\nsecond-hand smoke and I always tried to find an area where I won\u2019t bother\nfolks. I am so thankful I am done with that habit!!!<\/p>\n\n\n\n
So, while declaring schools closed in\nan attempt to contain the virus, I shook my head because I know that there are\na group of people who feel that while everyone else should stay at home, their\npersonal desire to go wherever, with the kids, is acceptable. And, of course, the\nvirus will continue to spread. I don\u2019t consider it a lost cause, but I do think\nthe effectiveness will be diminished by the same people who stripped the store\nshelves of toilet paper.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
But, as always one can find in difficult\ntimes, compassion and caring is poking up like a spring flower from under the carpet\nof dead leaves. People are helping each other however and wherever they can. On\nFacebook alone, I\u2019ve seen countless acts of kindness: people who coupon shop\nand have bought two-for-one deals and therefore have extra cereal or bread or\nmilk or whatever and have offered folks in need to message them for help. People\nare offering to help with childcare for working parents whose kids are now out\nof school. People are reaching out with great ideas and suggestions to parents\non how to amuse their kids stuck at home now. I had mentioned my experience\nwith the woman looking for toilet paper at the store in a comment on Facebook\nand someone I don\u2019t even know messaged me that she could spare a roll or two if\nI was in desperate need; how kind was that? I don\u2019t need any, happily, mostly\ndue to the fact that we seem to go grocery shopping two or three times a week! <\/p>\n\n\n\n
There is far to travel yet dear reader,\nand much to come. Some people will do stupid and selfish things while others\nwill do wonderfully kind and caring things. People will become ill despite anyone\u2019s\nbest intentions or efforts; we can\u2019t stop this virus but we can surely slow it down\n\u2013 minimize its impact to some extent. But like everything else in life, you find\nwhat you seek; if you seek the darkness and divergent behavior you will find\nthat; but seek the compassion and caring and you will find no shortage of it.\nCaring, kindness, compassion, and a sense of humor are all out there to help us\nget through this \u2013 of that I am sure!<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
There is no doubt about the impact this virus is having on daily life, and I am sure there is still much hardship up ahead. My small state, in the last three days, went from five cases, to fourteen, and now to twenty cases. With a population of over a million, that is a 0.002% […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":2185,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_monsterinsights_skip_tracking":false,"ocean_front_end_style_editor":"no","ocean_post_layout":"","ocean_both_sidebars_style":"","ocean_both_sidebars_content_width":0,"ocean_both_sidebars_sidebars_width":0,"ocean_sidebar":"0","ocean_second_sidebar":"0","ocean_disable_margins":"enable","ocean_add_body_class":"","ocean_shortcode_before_top_bar":"","ocean_shortcode_after_top_bar":"","ocean_shortcode_before_header":"","ocean_shortcode_after_header":"","ocean_has_shortcode":"","ocean_shortcode_after_title":"","ocean_shortcode_before_footer_widgets":"","ocean_shortcode_after_footer_widgets":"","ocean_shortcode_before_footer_bottom":"","ocean_shortcode_after_footer_bottom":"","ocean_display_top_bar":"default","ocean_display_header":"default","ocean_header_style":"","ocean_center_header_left_menu":"0","ocean_custom_header_template":"0","ocean_custom_logo":0,"ocean_custom_retina_logo":0,"ocean_custom_logo_max_width":0,"ocean_custom_logo_tablet_max_width":0,"ocean_custom_logo_mobile_max_width":0,"ocean_custom_logo_max_height":0,"ocean_custom_logo_tablet_max_height":0,"ocean_custom_logo_mobile_max_height":0,"ocean_header_custom_menu":"0","ocean_menu_typo_font_family":"0","ocean_menu_typo_font_subset":"","ocean_menu_typo_font_size":0,"ocean_menu_typo_font_size_tablet":0,"ocean_menu_typo_font_size_mobile":0,"ocean_menu_typo_font_size_unit":"px","ocean_menu_typo_font_weight":"","ocean_menu_typo_font_weight_tablet":"","ocean_menu_typo_font_weight_mobile":"","ocean_menu_typo_transform":"","ocean_menu_typo_transform_tablet":"","ocean_menu_typo_transform_mobile":"","ocean_menu_typo_line_height":0,"ocean_menu_typo_line_height_tablet":0,"ocean_menu_typo_line_height_mobile":0,"ocean_menu_typo_line_height_unit":"","ocean_menu_typo_spacing":0,"ocean_menu_typo_spacing_tablet":0,"ocean_menu_typo_spacing_mobile":0,"ocean_menu_typo_spacing_unit":"","ocean_menu_link_color":"","ocean_menu_link_color_hover":"","ocean_menu_link_color_active":"","ocean_menu_link_background":"","ocean_menu_link_hover_background":"","ocean_menu_link_active_background":"","ocean_menu_social_links_bg":"","ocean_menu_social_hover_links_bg":"","ocean_menu_social_links_color":"","ocean_menu_social_hover_links_color":"","ocean_disable_title":"default","ocean_disable_heading":"default","ocean_post_title":"","ocean_post_subheading":"","ocean_post_title_style":"","ocean_post_title_background_color":"","ocean_post_title_background":0,"ocean_post_title_bg_image_position":"","ocean_post_title_bg_image_attachment":"","ocean_post_title_bg_image_repeat":"","ocean_post_title_bg_image_size":"","ocean_post_title_height":0,"ocean_post_title_bg_overlay":0.5,"ocean_post_title_bg_overlay_color":"","ocean_disable_breadcrumbs":"default","ocean_breadcrumbs_color":"","ocean_breadcrumbs_separator_color":"","ocean_breadcrumbs_links_color":"","ocean_breadcrumbs_links_hover_color":"","ocean_display_footer_widgets":"default","ocean_display_footer_bottom":"default","ocean_custom_footer_template":"0","_jetpack_newsletter_access":"","_jetpack_dont_email_post_to_subs":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_tier_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paywalled_content":false,"_jetpack_feature_clip_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"ocean_post_oembed":"","ocean_post_self_hosted_media":"","ocean_post_video_embed":"","ocean_link_format":"","ocean_link_format_target":"self","ocean_quote_format":"","ocean_quote_format_link":"post","ocean_gallery_link_images":"off","ocean_gallery_id":[],"footnotes":"","jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false},"categories":[5],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-2184","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-humanity","entry","has-media"],"yoast_head":"\n