There are notices, a kind of warning, everywhere, even on the CBA website, that for a while, we may not be able to get together by getting together. We are being cautioned that there are lots of unknowns in our near future. And we know why this is so.
We know why, in a major city in Italy, people are singing together but are not together. Standing in windows of huge apartment buildings, they sing for the joy of singing and to mitigate their having to isolate themselves and despite their not being allowed to attend concerts or to meet in crowds.
So, it’s no surprise to you that we cannot do some things today that we could have done a month ago, or last year. We cannot move about as freely, we cannot buy some of the things we could a short time ago, and we cannot always schedule the medical appointments we could last month. And, we are separating ourselves voluntarily in an attempt to slow, and eventually stop a worldwide threat.
So far, Lee and I are managing pretty well, although it is hard to not drive over to the valley to visit our granddaughter Michela and our great grandsons Connor and Colt. We miss our twice-monthly breakfasts with our son and his Mary, and the scheduled picking with our friends, scheduled for our house, is postponed for a while.
Knowing things would tighten up, we got slightly ahead of the curve and went ahead with our annual visit to Ashland, Oregon, for the Winter Shakespeare Opening. We caught four shows and went on up to Portland for a short visit with our other granddaughter.
When we arrived home, things were just about ready to change into the situation in which we find ourselves today.
I thought I would write about other ways and other times when Americans had to change and live under restrictions that we are not used to, that we find it difficult to adjust to and yet always did.
I hope, in a series of what may sometimes be disjointed thoughts, I could tell about how we ALWAYS got with the program and ALWAYS came out better for our efforts.
We are in the midst of inconvenience! I use that word because I am old enough to remember real deprivation, not like the British and many other nations endured, but still deprivation! Our sheltering in place and “social distancing” cannot compare, yet what we have now IS an inconvenience.
It’s important to remember that the “Inconvenience” is for the purpose of staying out of the hospital and staying alive.
From my Geezer knowledge, and from my study of history, I am absolutrly certain that we will get through this “inconvenience”
Those of my generation can recall that our nation endured four years of war, and we remember that those not actually fighting were expected to, and did, do their part. In December of 1941, having just gotten through the Great Depression and on the slow road to recovery, the people of our country were already used to hardships, shortages and the hard lessons provided by not knowing if things were ever to get better.
There followed the real suffering of having so many young men sent off to do battle and the everyday mini-suffering of doing without. Without much effort we found that we could do with a lot less sugar and butter. Synthetic sugar substitutes, horrible stuff, was introduced and used as ‘sweeteners.” Pounds of something resembling lard were available in markets, each package including a coloring solution to mix with the goo to form an imitation butter. It tasted like you can imagine it did.
Many essentials were needed for the war effort. One had to petition through Boards and Government Office to get permission to buy a rubber tire, for example. I had to have my employer fill out a request to allow me to buy a J.C.Higgins Bicycle, because I was delivering false teeth and rubber stamps for the Marines on Paris island to stamp and identify their undies!
Most American were allowed very little gas, for essential work, and we had to use coupons for the purchases. No long vacation travels!
There were coupons for everything, including meat,
(An aside, about “Social Distancing.”
Back in the 40s, when I used to walk the wide dirt road – shrouded all the way by huge oak trees on both side – from Crossroads to Riceboro, Georgia, I would, from my up-bringing, nod or speak to ladies and older fellows, all Black. who were on their porches because of the heat. It was usually something like, “Afternoon, Miz Nettie,” and the reply was usually a friendly word or two,
I didn’t know at the time that we were engaged in “Social Distancing.”)
Recently as we stood on the sidelines and watched this crisis begin, then grow, then overwhelm the people of China, we only too late began to realize that we, old ordinary us, were going to be directly involved in a worldwide health disaster.
As are a lot of you, I’m guessing. I am of the geezer age, and being older, I have seen a lot more of everything than the ‘teens and young adults who are presently crowding together on beaches and enjoying the “freedom” resulting from their dismissal from school because of the current medical crisis. They are rejecting sound advice meant to help keep them from the unknown consequences of contagion.
and the older ones, mostly younger family men and women, are ignoring the sound advice to keep their distance. Yesterday (Sunday), I watched hundreds upon hundreds of people mingling in larger groups than recommended. On a city street filled with outdoor fruit and vegetable markets, I saw crowds in long lines, but separated by inches, not feet.
Perhaps this is ignorance instead of stupidity, but the results of crowding could be the same.
Despite what our medical professionals have told and what they predicted for us, we were not prepared for this new and scary pandemic! We are just now grappling with something we don’t understand, something that behaves in ways we are not accustomed to, and for most of us, it is a bit scary.
Those of us who are much older have gone through these things. In December 1941, America had a bare bones military force that was years behind the Germans and Japanese. As a ten year old, I was aware of the apprehension resulting from the unknowns. Where was the feared Japanese invasion fleet headed? How many spies were hiding among the thousands of Japanese-Americans and how many German saboteurs were hiding near our coasts?
But early fears faded, and Americans got into the war effort. The initial cry was “Remember Pearl Harbor.” As a ten year old when the War began, I watched in Savannah as the nation almost overnight went into full production for the War.
we quickly got used to doing without things we once desired but found we could donate to the Country. Car production ended and the car makers quickly produced guns, planes, military trucks, cannon and just about everything you can imagine.
The takeaway?
We will get through this pandemic, but it will be quicker and better if we practice not being stupid, and if we stay together in the simple ways that work. Separating works; washing your hands work; not hoarding works; listening to professionals about health matters , NOT politicians…works. And Common sense works.
Keep an eye on the politicians, however. Right now they are working together to pass measures to mitigate loss of jobs and loss to small businesses. Watch that their efforts are toward real HELP and not anything else.
The complex Government Financial Structure, set up after the Great Depression to prevent total failure has kicked in, so you and I can just do our part. Live reasonably, listen to health professionals, and help them when you can.
