I was going to blog/journal my experiences during the initial coronavirus shutdown, but things started happening too fast. First, as I did blog about privately, my father wound up in the ICU for three days with blood clots in his leg. Then I was dealing with moving my face to face high school classes online for the remainder of the semester. After that got sorted (somewhat), on the morning of my 53rd birthday, I was awakened by a phone call. One of my dearest friends awoke to find her husband dead that morning. This is not a sad story about how I spent my birthday, however. I am privileged to be considered a good enough friend to provide that kind of support to someone in need. I tell you these things to illustrate that we don’t always know what someone is going through.
Through all of this, I have also been grappling with what this virus means for me, my family, and my community. It’s hard on everyone, but much harder on some. So, please allow me to make the following observations:
- Be gentle with one another. There’s an old proverb that says not to judge someone until you have walked a mile in their shoes. That’s really good advice right now. Don’t be an ass to service staff – some of them are literally putting their lives on the line so that you can have groceries or restaurant meals. Same goes for the people you are living with.
- Don’t believe everything you read on social media. Social media has been weaponized by political forces for nefarious means – it is being used to sow misinformation and division. Fact check your sources, and especially fact check memes. Just because someone created a cute picture with a catchy phrase does not necessarily mean it is true. Also, some memes are just meant to be humorous. Laughter is good medicine for many conditions. It’s still ok to laugh at jokes.
- Tying to point 2, investigate the facts for yourself. Make sure that you can confirm information is valid by verifying it is published by two or more reputable sources. Peer reviewed papers are coming out on the coronavirus – at least read the abstracts of those. It pains me to say it, but journalists are no longer doing an adequate job of fact checking, so we need to take on this responsibility ourselves.
- Strive to be constructive. If you disagree with someone, rather than insulting them, find some common ground first so you can move forward and discuss your differences civilly. This used to be common practice, but it’s becoming rarer these days.
- Stand up for what is right. If you are not comfortable with direct confrontation when you see a wrong, find some way to document it so that others might address it. Be the change you wish to see in the world.
In the words of Ferris Bueller, “Life moves pretty fast. If you don’t stop and look around once in a while, you could miss it.” Even in this weird period of history, when time seems to be moving both too quickly and too slowly, take a minute to catch your breath. Examine your perspective. Take care of yourself physically and emotionally. Be well.
Master of None 