April 3, 2020
Dear Everyone:
There is an ancient Chinese curse that says, “May you live in An
Interesting Time!”
I’m not sure quite what we all did to deserve this, but I think this
does qualify as An Interesting Time.
In fact, I sometimes wish I had a Time Machine so that I could jump
ahead fifty years or so, just to see what future historians make of this
period. And, coincidentally,
to find out what IBM stock is selling for then.
Just curious.
I doubt that our current President gives much thought to how he will be
portrayed by those historians.
Trump lives in the moment.
But consider how others are depicted:
The Emperor Nero is famous for ignoring the conflagration while the city
of Rome went up in flames.
“Nero ‘fiddled’ while Rome burned.”
Of course, the fiddle, another name for the violin, would not be
invented for another nine centuries, but the general gist is that the
Guy in Charge did nothing.
Frankly, not a Good Look.
Then there was Marie Antoinette, Queen of France, caught up in the
French Revolution. When
informed that the peasants were rioting due to a lack of bread, she is
credited with advising, “Let them eat cake.”
Of course, there is no evidence that she said anything of the
sort, but history has a way of sticking it to you if you’re not careful.
And now we have Trump, The Incompetent, facing a global pandemic,
alternating between denying its actual existence and claiming to have
anticipated it in advance of everyone else, responding by putting his
feckless son-in-law in charge.
Lord save us from anything that Interesting.
In the meantime, I have been filling my time by making face masks.
Of course, they are not of medical quality.
They just cover the nose and mouth and remind the wearer not to
touch said nose-and-mouth until they get home, take off the mask, and
wash their hands for “Two ‘Happy Birthdays’”.
Nor are they meant to be a substitute for Physical Distancing, which
means staying at least six feet away from the nearest person.
This is becoming easier as all the stores I’ve visited in the
past two weeks now have tape markers on the floor.
One store even has big pink footprints, set six feet apart,
attached to the floor approaching the cashiers.
The stores are now prohibiting bringing your own shopping bags with you.
In other words, “Keep your germy bags to yourself!”
An Interesting departure from “We’re charging you 10¢ each to
provide you with bags.”
I predict that the day is coming when it will no longer be socially
acceptable to leave the house without a mask covering your face.
I’ve already been wearing mine for the last two weeks.
Last week I learned that our local branches of a national grocery chain
store had implemented a new policy of limiting shopping to Seniors
before 9:00 am on Tuesdays and Thursdays.
When I went in, wearing my usual mask, one of the Assistant
Managers was stopping anyone who looked obviously under 60.
(At last, that gray hair is paying off!)
She asked me where I got the mask.
When I said I had made it, she offered to buy one from me.
Later that day, I went back with a couple of just-completed masks
and gave them to her, naturally refusing any payment.
“Eva” is my newest Best Friend Forever.
She gave me her phone extension to call and request anything she
can put “on hold” for me in the future.
I also heard some comic announcing that the state of Florida was
ordering an equal limitation of “Seniors Only” in all stores for the
entire state. He added, “The
other ten people in the state were delighted to have the stores to
themselves for the rest of the day!”
Love, as always,
Pete
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