Observations From Just Outside the Pandemic #3

I have not been out for a week and that was a short trip to the drugstore to pick up my medication. I last shopped for food 12 days ago.  Although my life has not changed dramatically in the last week or so I am finding my reaction to the self-imposed isolation somewhat strange or at least unexpected.

I am bored. Lord knows I have lots to do inside the house. There is a full fleece to wash, enough clean wool to spin for a shawl and some wool already spun waiting to be woven into bags. I also have a table cloth to make and some display stands to repair in case the farmers' markets ever open this year. If the weather would get a bit sunnier, I have even more to do outside. If I was really bored, I could clean the house.

I have talked to all of my neighbours within the last ten days, in fact, more than I normally would (although the nice weather last week may have been responsible for our collective chattiness) as well as talking to both of my kids more (in the case of my son) than I normally would have. I have no reason to be bored or to feel ignored or lonely.

I find myself having mini panic attacks about not have enough food or supplies. For example, as I shower - I realize that I am running out of shampoo and conditioner - I only have enough for another two, maybe three weeks and I think I need to go and buy some. My fridge is emptier than it was a week ago and while I will need to buy to broccoli, mushrooms and some root vegetables sometime soon, the sense of panic that I get every time I open the fridge is unwarranted and absurd.  I have enough food for at least another week. My diet may be marginally less varied than it was ten days ago, but that just means that I need to be a bit less lazy and a bit more creative about cooking.

I miss reading real books. E-books are great, but I miss holding a book and turning the pages. I find my tablets somewhat clunky and slow to peruse the hundreds and hundreds of choices. It is sometimes a slow and frustrating process. But I have lots to read and to listen to.

So what am I missing? Corey Mintz, in the March 2020 edition of the Walrus wrote an article about how the process of buying food has changed over the last seven to eight decades. One of the paragraphs was particularly relevant to my developing sense of boredom or loneliness. Mintz suggested that low-level interactions - those interactions we have with casual acquaintances such as neighbours, or the brief interactions we have with store clerks, bank tellers or librarians form what is referred to in the sociological literature as "weak ties". These weak-ties contribute to our sense of well being and may protect us from, amongst other things, memory loss. Those ties may turn out to be critical to our well being.

So I am not bored or lonely. I am just missing that casual interaction with people - most of whom I do not know their names. Just that little bit of visual contact, a brief comment about the weather, uninterested questions about how I am feeling or even a please and thank you when buying something.

The big stuff I can handle - it is the small stuff that I am missing.

No Explanation for Dumbness

Sometimes, people say and do dumb things - I think it is part of human nature to be significantly less than perfect.  At least I hope it is part of our nature - I can't be the only one who, on occasion, says or does dumb things. BUT.....

Right now there are a whole bunch of folks who are saying and doing dumb things, and what is worse they are completely oblivious to their dumbness! We have doctors from some of the Prairie provinces who go to a curling bonspiel just days before WHO officially declares it to be a pandemic; about the same time, a large number of dentists and their colleagues from BC attend a conference. We expect these medical professionals to understand both how viruses are transmitted and the need to be ultra-cautious. Either they were being dumb or they are incompetent. What is particularly scary - not all of them took the necessary precautions when they returned.

We have people who continue to gather and associate in large groups as if they are immune from catching the virus and even worse - transmitting it to others. People congregate on beaches or playgrounds - ignoring the messages from almost every politician or doctor; some people get on ferries to go to tourist spots or decide that they paid for their holiday in some warm place and they are going to have that holiday regardless of any risk. According to the CBC, people who are trying to get home from some other country lie when being screened at the airport - they know they have a fever, but they would rather risk infecting a whole planeload of equally as desperate Canadians than to stay where they are. I can accept that some people who do not watch the news and who never talk to anyone about anything - might not know about the virus but all of the above individuals knew about it - and still decided to go ahead with their plans.

It is perhaps understandable that some people are naturally suspicious of messages passed on by politicians and scientists. To be cynical about the accuracy of such messages is one of the characteristics of our post-modernist society. For those people who see conspiracies around most corners, it must be even more difficult to trust anyone. Knowing who to believe becomes more challenging for all of us when the leaders of certain countries spout information that is wrong and that panders to our fears or our desperately held fantasies. For example, the leaders in the United States - specifically the president has continued to demonstrate his inability to read and his unwillingness to listen. He has either downplayed the seriousness of COVID 19 or else has stated that the US will find a cure etc. before anyone else. But he is not alone - the leadership of Iran has continually suggested that CNVID 19 is a plot by the USA to destroy Iran. Iran has, as a result of this ideology, blocked help from such agencies such as Doctors Without Borders.

We are in difficult times. Social isolation is a short term solution. At some point, we will have to either find some sort of cure or accept that those of use that are a risk - cannot be saved. At some point, we will need to accept that developing a "herd immunity" may be the only way out of it all. But in the meantime - can we stop saying and doing dumb things? Can we stop rationalizing our behaviour or our fears but keeping our heads stuck in the sand?