A Matter of Perspective

A lot has changed in the past month. A lot more has changed in the past week. The state of Minnesota, along with several other states, have declared “shelter in place” orders which definitely changes the dynamic of our day-to-day lives. I’ve gone through a gamut of emotions from disbelief to fear to a state of malaise. I’ve been depressed, but I have also been joyful. Don’t get me wrong, the joyfulness is not because of the Coronavirus, but more of a “consequence” of it. I am finding joy in little things, like taking a walk with my family. Like taking an afternoon nap. Like spending a day in my pajamas. Because the news media is considered an essential service, I have still been working, as well, albeit, not as much. Without schools being in session in the “normal” sense of the word, there haven’t been concerts or things going on to cover. Although I can envision a lot of story ideas that can come from the new style of “homeschooling,” I still wonder. I watched Dr. Phil on Thursday and he was interviewing different people who really didn’t think this was a “big deal” and that the government was taking things too far. One was a young woman who licked a toilet seat on an airplane. While Dr. Phil was interviewing her, she admitted that she had bleached the toilet seat prior to licking it. She also admitted that it was a private plane. It appears that a lot of the younger generation don’t take COVID-19 very seriously because it doesn’t impact them. But young people are getting sick and some are even dying from COVID-19 although not as many as the older or otherwise compromised members of the population. Even if young people aren’t as susceptible, they certainly need to understand that their actions are making others sick. I feel like things are so surreal. Every time I cough or sneeze, I feel like people are glaring at me when I am in public. When I am alone, I freak out because I am certain I have COVID-19. I find that when I am watching TV shows or commercials I think of them in terms of “social distancing” and why aren’t they doing it. Like I said, nothing seems real right now. But we are all working together to make this work for us. It isn’t easy, but we all have our parts to play. Make sure you do your part, no matter what your age.