Observations from Just Outside the Pandemic #5

I try so hard - I really do - to be moderate in my statements, to avoid judging too harshly other people's statements or actions. I am usually careful about my language so that I do not hurt or insult other people BUT sometimes my anger or frustration is so overwhelming that it is all that I can do not to go to that person, grab them by the throat and shake them. I am a lifelong pacifist but sometimes people need a slap alongside their head.

1) There is a couple, it is reported in the local press, who have just returned from a trip outside of the country. They, despite being warned, are refusing to self-quarantine for the fourteen days as required by law. Really? I know it is a nuisance not to be able to run around and do all of the things you would normally do like showing off your vacation pictures and flaunting your tans - but the rest of us living in the Cowichan Valley are doing our best to stop the spread of the virus by minimizing our contact with other people. We don't need people who may have been exposed to share their disease with us. For heaven's sake stay home! If they don't, perhaps they should receive a healthy fine and then be forced to stay at home.

2)  One could write 500 words every single day on the silliness of Mr. Trump. In fact, there are reporters and stand-up comedians who earn their living by doing exactly that. It is so easy to find fault with some of his comments that I generally do not bother - if I did, it would just be me being lazy. But his latest decision to restrict the export of n95 masks to Canada it such a flagrant, absurd, isolationist decision that someone needs to sit him down and do a mental health check. I am having a hard time believing that even a politician could be that selfish or short-sighted.

I can't ever remember when a country stopped shipments of a product to another country. I get that there are shortages everywhere and I can even understand why someone might initially think that country that makes them - should get them. But it is incredibly short-sighted. I wonder if Trump knows that at least some of the pulp used to manufacture gowns and masks in the US comes from Vancouver Island? Perhaps we should just redirect those materials to Canadian manufacturers. I know we are a much smaller country that Mr. Trump's but if he does not want to share, there are other countries that will.

When the public hears a president of a country looking out only for his country first - it is perhaps not so hard to understand why individuals put themselves first before their community. This is not the world I chose to live in.

Observations from Just Outside the Pandemic #4

It is all too easy to rant about the sheer dumb and irresponsible behaviour of some people such as a few church ministers in the USA who have continued to preach to large groups of people saying that if you truly believe in Jesus, then you won't get sick from COVID-19 or the doctors who continue to order and self prescribe anti-malaria medication because they think it will help them (and thereby potentially depriving this medication from people who have malaria). It is equally as easy to publically fume about the greedy, immoral people who develop scams to prey upon individuals who are, at the best of times, at risk of being taken in by telephone scams and who now because they are isolated, are even more vulnerable. There are almost no words to describe the despicableness of returning travellers lying to border or security agents about whether or not they have any symptoms.

One could also talk, in glowing terms, about the thousands of people who have continued to work because what they do is critical to a community's capacity to function. Long distant truck drivers, medical professionals, personal care aids going into people's homes and of course, all of those workers in grocery stores who are keeping us fed are working long hours and at least some of them are, unfortunately, getting paid just above minimum wage.

So many people have been put in precarious positions because their place of employment has been shut down. Whether one works for a national transportation carrier, in the manufacturing sector or in an office - your income has been reduced. The government's plans to supplement people's income can only be a band-aid for people's real living costs. Owners of small business- some of whom have spent a lifetime creating that company must be in tears over the losses they are experiencing. Hopefully,  the government's plans to support those businesses will alleviate some of the stresses.

It is less clear what self-employed people are going to do, of how they are going to financially stay alive when they may not fall into a specific category making them eligible for support. Musicians who are just starting their careers and who have planed perhaps to spend the summer travelling across Canada to play in various folk festivals will have lost those gigs and will have no potential to replace that income. University students who regardless of whether or not they get a credit, not only have lost at least part of their learning experience for this year, but they face the very real possibility that they will not have the opportunity to work for part if not all of the summer. There are hundreds and hundreds of small crafters who make some or in many cases all of their income from selling at local markets. Many of them have, in the past, been so far off of the grid that the government does not know they exist. Many of them will have no income this spring and there is no back-up plan.

 It has already felt like it has been a long spring - there is no doubt that as the weather gets better - it is going to feel even longer as many of us do our best to ensure that the virus does not spread to ourselves or to those we know. I am hoping that someone far wiser or more creative than I will find ways that people like me can be more supportive of some of the folks who are struggling.

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?

Observations From Just Outside the Pandemic #2

There are some of us for whom a five-minute conversation with a neighbour meets all our social requirements for a week. There are those of us who are quite content to spend a lot of time alone. I have said for years that a good week for me is when I do not have to go out or talk to anyone. Some of us have to schedule activities in the community to combat our tendency to monk-dom. We are not all born to be social creatures.

But many (perhaps even most) people are social creatures. This semi-voluntary social isolation must be a terrible strain upon those folks. To not be able to mingle and chat, to not be able to play or to hug friends, to not be able to just be where there are other people are must be almost unbearable.

There are numerous postings on Facebook about how wonderful this slowdown in the economy is for the environment. Just this morning I read that deer are wandering the streets of the cities of Japan, that dolphins are playing in the ocean just off the beaches of Italy and that the water in the canals of Venice is clear. Last week there was a lot of buzz about how China's carbon emissions were down by 25% because of the shutdown of factories. There is talk about that the COVID -19 virus is Mother Nature's way of making us slow down so the planet can heal. There is a general sense amongst some posters to social media that this is the new way of doing things - people will consume less, they will work out of their own homes, as well engaging less in the broader community and certainly travelling less.

However, social isolation is not the way to resolve the world's environmental problems. It may solve a short term problem in terms of pollution, but making/allowing people to separate from each other will only increase the sense of isolation that so many people fear. If we do not stay intimately connected with each other's lives we are doomed as a species. To not be able to share or to interact with our neighbours, our friends or our co-workers will destroy the one thing that has allowed us to survive.

Humans do not create anything alone. Everyone, whether it be artists such as Tom Thomson or Picasso, inventers such as Edison or Elon Musk or social innovators such as Marx or Tommy Douglas have all used the work of others and the social interactions of their own lives to create what they have created. If someone does invent/discover a cure to the COVID-19 virus - it will because that person was part of a team that used the work of other researchers. Socially isolating ourselves is necessary at this particular point in time because it is the easiest way to stop the virus from consuming all of our medical resources, but it is not the panacea for all of our environmental issues.

Children need to go to school- not just to learn academic stuff that may be useful but also to learn how to relate to others, how to explore and then understand what they have found. If it takes a community to raise a child - on-line learning and the internet, in general, is a very poor substitute. Yes, there are some jobs that can be done at home - but without the collegial interactions, without the peer support how can an individual maintain any sense of collective purpose.  People need to share, to be intimate with each other, to just be with other people.

As this pandemic and the consequences of it continue to unfold - we need to continue to be human - and that means being connected to each other.