Playing By the Rules

SELF QUARANTINED, SHELTERED IN PLACE, social distancing doing all the right things, the hand washing, snug as a bug, that's me. In other words, life as usual, no changes. My normal, everyday, distanced from humanity, lovely life, my cats and me, undisturbed. Looking out at the rest of the world, and hearing nothing about anything but the virus, it seems like some poorly written science fiction novel. like the Andromeda Strain on steroids, in real time, real world. The response from the Trump administration, belated, non serious, at first calling the whole thing a hoax, deplorable, everyone but Trump supporters agree. The Chinese are up and running again, with declining numbers, while in the United States our numbers continue to climb, with a shortage of equipment, discipline, and planning. It has been pointed out that we want to be careful about how willing we are to crash our economy to save a few million lives; a disastrous economic situation produces poverty, starvation, sickness, stress, suicide, which could undo billions, not millions. The American worship of personal freedom begins to sow its vulnerable side. I'll be damned if I will cut back on my personal life merely because some new flu bug is making a few people ill. I have the right to go out on the town! An authoritarian government, with the power to order a billion and a half people into their houses, and to expect complete compliance, has it advantages, it turns out. No new cases in the Chinese city where it all began, while in the United States, it may be that we've only just begun. So, we are finally getting the message, sequestered with our flat screens and small screens; those households which are reduced to merely books, especially good books, and to their own thoughts, have no chance of survival. So we wash our hands, avoid our friends, do all the right things. But at some point, we must start talking about something other than this damned virus. At some point, we must have the courage to resume our regular lives, to go out and about, virus, or no virus. Otherwise, we will not have enough of a life, we will not have enough of an economy, to stay hidden in our houses for the sake of preservation. We are beginning to do all the right things to protect ourselves, finally, after much resistance and denial, inspired by the president who claimed at first that the whole thing is a hoax. It is definitely not a hoax, because it is more potent than the normal flu, and we have as yet no treatment nor vaccine against it. all this we will have, the sooner the better. But not only must we keep our hopes and our faith alive, we must keep ourselves alive, intellectually, spiritually, as well as physically. And for this, we must ultimately be willing to go out again into the world, and to live our lives fully, joyfully.