Rainy Day Thoughts

I’m sitting on my screened-in lanai after a rainy evening with rum in one hand and a keyboard in the other. Yes, it takes longer to type, but the pecking becomes more purposeful as the glass empties. The citronella candles glow softly nearby to ward off any hungry mosquitoes that may happen to wander in from the preserve 50 yards away. There’s a certain serenity that I am having right now that I haven’t had in a while. Other than the normal insect noises that occur at this time of night, it’s peaceful.

This is normally the perfect time for me to write. I have a framework for my next book, but I am unable to move forward on it. It just doesn’t feel like the right time to pursue artistic ventures. The many distractions of the world weigh heavily on me. I happen to be one of the fortunate ones who has a full fridge, electricity on, and a full time job to go to, but my thoughts continually go back to those who are just trying to survive this current pandemic. We are looking at an unemployment rate of 20%, which translates to 65 million out of the entire population of 328 million people in the US alone needing food and support during this nationwide shutdown.

The enormity of the situation is almost incomprehensible. A worldwide shutdown to try and control a virus that will inevitably touch the lives of all of us. I hope and pray that our tactics against this invisible enemy will assist in our ability to combat and control this plague upon humanity. Until a reliable vaccine is available to everyone on the planet, this scourge will continue to shadow us wherever we go. Life as we once knew it has been irrevocably changed.

So what now? How do we move forward?

Those that are now working are continuing to press forward to help keep everyone safe, fed, and healthy. Hospital staff and first responders are getting lauded by all, but we need to remember the truck drivers, the grocery store workers, the waste disposal crews, and the delivery people who never asked to be on the frontlines need to be recognized as well. In the coming weeks, as businesses slowly start opening again, we have to move forward with caution, but forward we must go. We can’t sit for another year waiting for a vaccine and at the same time we must protect those most vulnerable to the virus as we find a new path ahead. If we slowly open things up, we can easily shut things back down if the infectiorate becomes too much for our health care infrastructure to sustain. If the floodgates are opened wide, we may never recover from that decision.

There is no overnight cure for unemployment or Covid-19. However, we can find a way to get back to work slowly while keeping the safety of everyone in mind as we do so. My feeling is that we are going to see more deaths attributed to this but that we will forge a path that will try to keep that to a minimum. I wish that we could keep everyone safe at home, but that is unsustainable.

Until this disease can be brought under control, things are going to look very different as we emerge from our domiciles. So long as we try to work together and remember that this is for the betterment of humanity, and not political parties, we stand a chance. This world is facing an unseen enemy and it’s going to take all of us to beat it. The fight begins at home. Help your neighbor and friends as much as you can. Take precautions at the stores and in public. Wash your hands and cover your mouth. We are all in this together like never before. If you can, donate. If you are in need, reach out. We will get past this and if we try hard enough, we can ease the suffering and death of others by simply keeping our distance and keeping it tidy.

Let’s roll.

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