In the past when asked about what I wished for in my life,
I would always say “Spend more time with my family.” Alas, the coronavirus has
made that a reality. Some may call it “sheltering in place,” while others will
say it’s “social distancing,” but it is also leading to a situation of cabin
fever that is infinitely harder than a blackout or blizzard.
In a natural disaster, we face periods of no electricity
(thus no TV and Internet), no supplies, and isolation. In this case we have our
utilities, can get to the supermarket, but we are still isolated. When we do go
out, we wear gloves and masks and are walking into stores where most of the
people are doing the same thing. It is a surreal situation that I would expect
to see in a Twilight Zone episode more than real life.
Neighborhoods seem like ghost towns, where once vibrant
streets are eerily silent. The trains and buses are running on reduced
schedules, but when you see one go by it is empty, the pale fluorescent lighting
flashing on vacant seats. Train stations are like graveyards – even the rats
seem to be in isolation.
In my lifetime I have experienced 9/11 and Hurricane
Sandy, and both shut things down for a short time. The enormity of this coronavirus
pandemic is that we have seen something unprecedented – Broadway is dark, as
are the malls and stores, and the schools are all closed. The sports world has
gone completely dark, turning March Madness into March Sadness. I keep thinking
of that REM song and the line, “It’s the end of the world and we know it.” The
problem is I don’t feel fine.
While my kids are putting on a brave exterior, I know
this is bothering them. They are taking online classes, but there is something
definitely missing. They are being robbed of the school year, their classmates,
and even the teachers that they now miss beyond belief. Every kid loves a snow
day – they may even long for a snow week – but no kid wants a snow month or
more. They are social beings and need to spend time with other kids more than
anything.
They FaceTime their friends and that helps, but the
length and breadth of the day is indoors with mom and dad. I don’t mind them
being home, but we are both working from home, so the truth is they need to do
their stuff and we have to do ours. Sometimes that does not compute. We have to interrupt what we’re doing to help them with something or fix lunch or stop an
argument.
My son and I have been playing a lot of basketball. We
used to get to play only once in a while on weekends, but now we are playing every
day for 30 minutes. I tell him it’s his gym class, but that is good for me too.
At the end of the day – after school work and our work is done – we take a long
walk as a family. This is when we encounter a few other souls – a lone dog
walker, a jogger, a couple here and there – and we talk and walk and feel the
sunshine. This should be beautiful and wonderful times together, but the heft
of what is happening in the world hangs over us, making that agony seem to overtake the ecstasy of being together.
I have found a few key things to get me through the
madness of this time. One important thing is not watching TV news. The media
has embraced the coronavirus madness, but this coverage is a green-eyed monster
that doth mock the meat it is feeding upon. The 24/7 coronavirus reporting has
made virtually every other story go away.
Every time I turn on the TV, I see Doctor Anthony Fauci (NIAID Director) talking to someone. I have nothing against the man – he is
rather likeable – but I don’t want to keep hearing about this story every
waking minute. I know Dr. Fauci is trying his best to help us, but please get
to some other news. Please!
You might say that this is a worldwide pandemic, so there
is no other news, and perhaps that is true. For my kids the news might as well
be read by the Grim Reaper – they feel like their lives are in danger and are
never going to be the same. Perhaps we are all feeling that to a degree, but we
have to find diversions.
Luckily, we have Netflix and Disney+ and many other
options. As a family we sit down and have another thing I used to wish for –
family movie night. In the past they were once in a while, but now we are doing
it almost every night. This is indeed a benefit of sheltering in place.
Afterwards, I have been indulging in some binge watching.
Right now, I am going through every James Bond movie. Last night I watched
Pierce Brosnan in Die Another Day (his last Bond film), and I hadn’t
seen it since it first came out, and it’s quite good. Halle Berry has that unforgettable coming out of the water scene reminiscent of Ursula Andress in the first Bond
film, and young Rosamund Pike is stunning. Now on to the Daniel Craig era.
I am fortunate that I can work from home – as so many
other people are doing; however, many cannot do this. In our extended family we have four
nurses and two firefighters, so they are out there every day, and they are at a
greater risk of exposure to the virus. Multiply that by all the first responders
and people who work in medical fields. This pandemic is affecting so many
people, and there seems no end in sight.
Still, some people have good humor and are making the best
of it (see video below). Perhaps humor will saves us, but it’s not easy for the kids and the parents, and when
you have elderly relatives to worry about the anxiety increases. Some have said
it gives us more time together – time to read, to create, to cook, to meditate.
All those things are good, but they are just not the same if we experience them
due to mandated isolation.
What worries me is that this sheltering in place becomes
the new normal. Closed stores, restaurants, and businesses may not be able to
recover and never reopen. Working from home becomes work as we know it, and
even schools remain online because it is an easier and safer way to educate. If
we ever reach that once unthinkable situation, life as we knew it will be over,
and the world will be a solemn place for our children and future generations.
No comments:
Post a Comment