March 19, 2020 [The Social Distance Grows]
[Page 1] It was a time of panic. In less than a week people began to turn on each other. They began to argue heatedly over who had it worse, who was most at risk, simply displaying who was most afraid. This fear permeated through the country, beginning in large cities and trickling down to small towns. The tensions went incredibly high, as kindness and civility reached an all time low. First it was extreme hoarding of renewable resources. Americans went out to every store that they could and purchased everything in sight, with no care or concern for their fellow Americans.
At first, this purchasing was calm, systematic, a sense that this was what needed to be done. However, as stores were emptied this calm was replaced by fear and a mindset of scarcity. How dare these stores be empty? Don’t they
[Page 2] know we need our candy and potato chips? Bread to go with our Reality TV circuses. This is when the calm gives way to panic and fighting. When Americans turn against each other and begin to blame the other instead of examining themselves & the role they have played in the chaos.
As stores empty, the customers became hostile, first to the employees and store managers, then to each other. As lines get longer and the virus goes without a cure, the love for one another begins to shake. They lash out at each other, demanding space, a need for physical boundaries like never before. The familiarity and intimacy of closeness is replaced by distance, we are all strangers to each other now, no longer in this together. No longer all for one and one for all. Now every family, every one, for themselves, no questions asked
[Page 3]. As the incidents continue and we look back upon this time, will we be proud of ourselves? Proud of what we accomplished and how we were able to band together despite all odds or would we be ashamed. Shamed by the unkind words exchanged in the fast food restaurant, Shamed by pushing and cursing at the grocery store, Shamed by hoarding resources and insulating ourselves so much that we forget this is not about us.
We are not unique or special in our trauma or experience. Everything that happens has happened before and everything that is happening is being played out on a global and universal stage. This is not the beginning, nor is this the end. We will not make things better if we do not know deeply, if we do not embrace these universal truths. But America is young yet, and as some like to say, you gone learn today.