Social distancing, anyone?
As you go through your day trying to deal with the CoronaVirus madness around you, the question posed in the headline presents itself. Seriously, have we really become this self-centered and coarse in our lives, America? My answer, a resounding YES, is why I call it the madness, not the pandemic, for the madness we've created is likely to turn out much more critical than the disease itself. It's as if we think there is no one else in this world but ourselves and therefore we can justify the stupid things that we do. Now I don't know about you, but if this is a sign of what could become after a massive pandemic, one much greater than what we face today, then I really don't want any part of it. I have no interest in surviving to live the rest of my life as a living character in another Mad Max in Thunderdome flick. That is not living by any stretch of my imagination.
The other day I went to the nearest Walmart Superstore after being told three pallets of toilet paper had arrived shortly before opening. I arrived five minutes after the seven a.m. opening and it was gone. Someone said the employees got it, that they hadn't been given any time off and it was their turn. I understand helping them, but three pallets in a very short period of time with none for folks who have been waiting for days. Doesn't make sense to me. And then there's the local food market which ran out of bread under similar conditions on the next day. As I walked into the story early, I watched people rolling out the door with up to twenty loaves of bread in their carts. Really? I asked the manager why he didn't put a limit on purchasing and he said he just sold it to whoever came first. Remind me not to go back to that store again which is a bit difficult since I live quite a way from the nearest city.
And speaking of the stores, I appreciate that so many are putting limits on sale. At Walmart, if you take anything over the limit, the scanners will flag you and not accept the purchase, so that's a good check since, sadly, people just can't be trusted. But after seeing a customer sneeze on a box of pastry in the pastry display area, and watching the attendant have to throw out the entire display due to contamination, why don't they put a protective cover over the produce? They have plexiglass protection for the cashiers, so shouldn't produce be protected as well? There was even an article out yesterday about a produce store that had to destroy an entire display of expensive items for just that reason and today we even find people deliberately coughing in the face of others. Our civility and world is truly turned upside down and the situation here is good evidence of it.
Lastly, I can't be critical without including politicians, for they are such an easy target. The pet peeve here is the wise politician who said in a large store like Costco or Walmart only one customer can occupy every one thousand square feet of floor space. The result: Long lines of customers lined up close together in the hot sun. No six foot social separation found there and we can thank both the politicians and the stupidity of ourselves for always pushing the envelope. Operating this way is going to kill us if we aren't careful and we can't ignore the reality that we can't keep businesses closed for too long or we'll never come back. Oops, that would bring Mad Max in with a yen for everything you and I have.
Sorry for the rant this morning but I think this is important. After all, in so many ways we are finding that the behavior, or lack thereof of people who should no better, the hoarding and the resultant shortages which should not be in a land of untold riches might be a bigger disaster than the pandemic itself. What a sad state of affairs but, after all, when a society decides there is no right or wrong and no moral compass which is given by a belief in a Higher Power which is so out of vogue today, why should we be surprised? Is where this can lead us where we want to be? Think about it.
The other day I went to the nearest Walmart Superstore after being told three pallets of toilet paper had arrived shortly before opening. I arrived five minutes after the seven a.m. opening and it was gone. Someone said the employees got it, that they hadn't been given any time off and it was their turn. I understand helping them, but three pallets in a very short period of time with none for folks who have been waiting for days. Doesn't make sense to me. And then there's the local food market which ran out of bread under similar conditions on the next day. As I walked into the story early, I watched people rolling out the door with up to twenty loaves of bread in their carts. Really? I asked the manager why he didn't put a limit on purchasing and he said he just sold it to whoever came first. Remind me not to go back to that store again which is a bit difficult since I live quite a way from the nearest city.
And speaking of the stores, I appreciate that so many are putting limits on sale. At Walmart, if you take anything over the limit, the scanners will flag you and not accept the purchase, so that's a good check since, sadly, people just can't be trusted. But after seeing a customer sneeze on a box of pastry in the pastry display area, and watching the attendant have to throw out the entire display due to contamination, why don't they put a protective cover over the produce? They have plexiglass protection for the cashiers, so shouldn't produce be protected as well? There was even an article out yesterday about a produce store that had to destroy an entire display of expensive items for just that reason and today we even find people deliberately coughing in the face of others. Our civility and world is truly turned upside down and the situation here is good evidence of it.
Lastly, I can't be critical without including politicians, for they are such an easy target. The pet peeve here is the wise politician who said in a large store like Costco or Walmart only one customer can occupy every one thousand square feet of floor space. The result: Long lines of customers lined up close together in the hot sun. No six foot social separation found there and we can thank both the politicians and the stupidity of ourselves for always pushing the envelope. Operating this way is going to kill us if we aren't careful and we can't ignore the reality that we can't keep businesses closed for too long or we'll never come back. Oops, that would bring Mad Max in with a yen for everything you and I have.
Sorry for the rant this morning but I think this is important. After all, in so many ways we are finding that the behavior, or lack thereof of people who should no better, the hoarding and the resultant shortages which should not be in a land of untold riches might be a bigger disaster than the pandemic itself. What a sad state of affairs but, after all, when a society decides there is no right or wrong and no moral compass which is given by a belief in a Higher Power which is so out of vogue today, why should we be surprised? Is where this can lead us where we want to be? Think about it.
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