As I sit in my state-imposed exile, I watch the world around me through the lens of the media and from the 6’x15″ balcony. I do walk the dog a couple times a day and I made a trip to Walmart and Costco two days ago but i have tried to comply with the shelter in place order. Currently, CNN reports 216,768 cases in the United States with 5,148 deaths. Worldwide, the numbers are 962,997 cases with 49,180 deaths. Over 10 million Americans have filed for unemployment in the last few weeks and somehow in my mind, I find that number even more alarming. Maybe it is my nature, but to think of so many people struggling without a job, it breaks my heart. I know some of my friends on social media are among these numbers as well as Angi’s mom, who at 70 years old was laid off from her hotel job. She is not sure what to do and that is understandable. I won’t deign to understand how that uncertainty feels – the closest I got to that feeling was the last government shutdown where we were not paid for five weeks. It made me emotionally ill and frantic to do anything to get food on the table and keep the electricity on. I wish I knew how to help more. Will this crisis bring people closer together or will the effects of social distancing have long term effects on how people interact? That seems a question for the psychologists and sociologists although each of us will answer that question for ourselves.
I will say this. You are all in my thoughts and prayers and even as that seems so hollow and useless, as we go through this and when we come out of it, we will all have a part to play to help those who were not as fortunate.