I have to feel sorry for Donald Trump. I mean it, he is so wrapped up in himself he'll never know the simple pleasure of people being nice to each other.
He can't experience the pleasure I felt this afternoon when, idling in line at the recycling center, the person ahead noticed I'd arrived and pulled away. He was done, apparently, and since no one was behind him, was probably texting. I caught his attention as he passed, waved and smiled in thanks, he smiled and waved back.
Opening the back window on my CRV I reflected on the simple kindness people seem inclined to show each other lately. We smile more easily, we're more considerate, we're more thoughtful. I wondered if it's because we don't know which of us is going to get COVID-19 next. Which one of us will go into the hospital and never go home again.
Not knowing who's next, we want to be kind to everyone, just in case. It's tragic it's taken a pandemic to get our attention, but at least it did. Not that we're all going around thinking about dying and asking, "What's it all about, Alfie?"
I do think most of us are aware life has become more tenuous the past few months, though. A new microbe has ridden into town, gunning for all of us and the best we can do is try to stay out of its way. You can take my word for it, coronavirus is not one bit intimidated by liberal gun laws. Smith & Wesson can't protect anything from this outlaw.
But we don't need Smith & Wesson, anyway. If we can keep our heads long enough to smile and joke with strangers about being mistaken for robbers because we're wearing masks into Walmart, that's a good sign. If we can batten down the hatches on our pride, use some good sense and wear masks, wash our hands, and practice the pure human decency of social distancing, it's an even better sign we might help each other have half a chance.
It may not seem like a lot but at the moment it's what we've got, so let's use it with impunity. We're not talking about snake oil or something Trump has pulled out of his backside and tried to pass off as a miracle.
The true fact is, we don't need a miracle. What we need is a healthy dose of reality. Take a spoonful every hour until this is all over and then keep taking it. Don't let some reality TV character sell you a story about a handful of magic beans and a goose and a golden egg. That only works in fairy tales and life and COVID-19 ain't no fairy tales, no matter who says they are.
(Creative Commons
Image)
It is alarming, if not downright frightening, that in the midst of a crisis affecting the nation and the world, listening to the White House is not such a good idea.
I say that because the White House has developed the nasty habit lately of being less than reliable about passing along the best that medical science has to say about COVID-19. As a matter of fact, the daily White House briefs often as not reveal the President and his chief coronavirus expert at odds with one another. Of all the times to make sure you listened to your scientists and followed their advice, now would be the time, but it's not happening.
I'm a psychiatrist, not an epidemiologist or politician, but I know enough about all three to know it's wise to recognize your limitations. If Dr. Fauci advised me to be cautious when it came to "opening up" the country, you can bet your life I'm going to be cautious. The last thing I'm going to do is play "guess who's smarter" games while your life is on the line.
The coronavirus health crisis is not make believe. It is not a conspiracy theory. It is not the flu. It is a virus-borne illness that has resulted in the deaths of over 40,458 Americans as of this moment. Over 762,690 cases have been confirmed, by the way, as of this moment. To those who dismiss it and insist on going to church or crowding around protesting, when you get sick, when you need an ICU bed, when you're desperate for a ventilator, when you'd sell your soul for a doctor and nurse, just remember: You were warned.
A flattening of the bell curve as we've started seeing in New York doesn't mean we've got coronavirus on the run. It means what we've been doing to try and reduce its extent appears to be working. That's all it means.
The good news is, we can still screw this up. All we have to do is lie. Close our minds and lie like our lives depended on it because they just might. Distort reality, deny the truth, and brag about being invincible. See? We still have time. We can still screw this up.
When COVID-19 reruns hit the theaters this fall, tell you what, let's all go. It's all a hoax, right? Nobody at the White House wears a mask (at least in public) why should we? Forget social distancing. Let's cozy up and cough, sneeze in each other's faces, splattering virus like it was confetti at New Year's. Let's all get sick this time. Maybe even die.
Won't that be fun?
(Image by
Mark Waugh and www.cartridgesave.co.uk)
