As states all over the country grapple with shelter-in-place orders, and my home state of California slowly relaxes restrictions in an effort to get the economy moving again, while balancing that effort with the preservation of public health, it has becoming increasing difficult for me to shelter-in-place and wear my face coverings like we should all be doing.
Why? In a nutshell, I feel as if I’m surrounded by idiots.
It’s bad enough that I’m assaulted during my rare public outings with people who aren’t wearing face coverings. Yes, I know they’re following the example of the Moron-In-Chief Donald J. Trump, but we’ve got more sense than that, haven’t we?
I am growing weary of trying to navigate through crowds of people without face coverings at the grocery store and other public places. I just spent 20 minutes on the phone with my bank, to avoid going into a local branch and running into people who don’t appear to care about doing their part to keep everyone safe.
Another pair of those morons, a couple of octogenarian retirees in my neighborhood, host weekly cotillions in their back yard every spring and summer. This year’s coronavirus hasn’t stopped them one bit. 8-10 cars each day, easily 15+ people. They held the latest one just yesterday.
(Thanks for indulging me with that last paragraph. I have waited since my high school English class to use the word “cotillion” in writing. I told you I’d find a way, Mr. Simmons!)
How can we expect young people to listen to California’s Governor Newsom and help flatten the curve when so many older people are behaving as if they just don’t care? It’s a question that’s been posed to me several times over the last few weeks, by young people…and I haven’t had a good answer for them.
So I went to my local county for the answer. And if you’re not in Sacramento County, read up on your local ordinances and guidelines, or the Centers For Disease Control guidelines, and abide by them.
Then, I went to the Good Book. Of leading the young ‘uns, the scriptures say train them up in the way that they should go, and when they are old, they won’t depart from it.
When the old ones are tossing caution to the virus-soaked wind and holding mask-less parties in their back yards, it’s not hard to understand why the young ones don’t know how to act. And I can’t get after the residents of the sorority house down the street for holding their Saturday afternoon pool parties.
Social distancing’s not easy for any of us. And I can come up with several articles of clothing that are more comfortable than a face mask, especially on a warm California afternoon. But it’s the socially responsible thing to do.
So do it.
Stay home as much as you can. And when you have to leave home, wear a mask and practice social distancing.
And let’s get through this together.
COVID Convos is a series of original columns conceptualized to give you something else to think about as we manage the coronavirus pandemic. Hopefully, they will provide you with a different perspective about an issue related to the crisis…or at the very least, a brief smile. Remember, with coronavirus: this too shall pass.
Michael's Mind's Eye 