Stir Crazy

Well, here we are. In a place and time that, until now, was just the stuff science fiction movies and books were made about. It’s been strongly suggested (just short of an official order) by local, state, and federal authorities, that all human mammals stay in their homes and six feet away from other human contact as much as possible and all because of a simple microscopic virus cell. The Corona Virus or Covid-19.
Tens of thousands have contracted the virus worldwide, and so too, thousands have succumbed to it. Scary stuff? Well, when you think of the bouts of the annual flu season and the tens of thousands that “catch” the flu every year along with the thousands that also perish from it, is Corvid-19 truly any worse? I really don’t know at this point. Though I don’t think it is to be taken lightly I believe the hysteria surrounding it may be somewhat out of context.
But there are some bright spots and like everything else on this earth, there is a bit of humor in some dark corners of this pandemic.
The name “Corona” for instance. Whoever gave this moniker to the cell sized demon was not a beer drinker. As for reasons that bare no reasoning, the maker of the unfortunately same named beer, reported a drop of over thirty percent in sales at the start of the virus outbreak. Why?!?! Trust me, it’s not their fault. Honest! The word “corona” is Spanish for crown or wreath. There is nothing regal about this virus.
Then there is the, completely inexplicable, hoarding of toilet paper! Toilet paper!! Does everyone think that contacting Corvid-19 leads to chronic toilet usage? What did mankind do before toilet tissue was invented? Have we become so refined that we have distanced ourselves from the outhouse and the Sears and Roebuck catalog? Most homes, now days, have a shower right next to, at least one, toilet in the house. But my new theory for the high demand is that it just may be that every time someone coughs or sneezes the rest of us crap our pants.
Mankind, or the more politicly correct, humankind, is nothing more than another form of mammal inhabiting this big blue ball. And as such, we are prone to natures control.
Plagues, viruses, and disease have been with us for all of humankind’s days on this earth and will continue to do so for as long as we are here. I and my family are just as prone and susceptible as the rest of humanity. The Spanish influenza outbreak in 1918 victimized my Dad as a young boy. The Hong Kong flu in 1968 singled myself out as a receptor and I remember being sick and bedridden for two weeks and yet, both Dad and I survived. So, stay calm and relax but stay vigilant and wash your hands!
The time of self-quarantine will pass. Even though it my take a while and be testing one’s patience. My wife, for example, is a wonderful cook and the kitchen is her escape. I, on the other hand, like to dabble in the kitchen but I’m very limited in my culinary skills. So, when the two of us get together in the kitchen to preform a bit nutritional wizardry, the resulting stage show ends up in a Pitbull fight. Our time together in the kitchen during this confinement will be severely limited.
TV is a matter of taste. I can hardly call todays programing “entertainment”. We now receive over 100 channels and when I look back on the days of my youth when we got three channels clearly (most of the time) and one or two fuzzy channels. There was no remote except for the youngest member of the family, which was me in the case of my family. But the programing was far better then. Shows were funny. Shows were moral. Shows could be watched by the whole family right up to the time all programing went off the air after the Johnny Carson show. Now days there are only a bleak few Judy and I enjoy together. “My” remote will get a workout in the coming days, desperately searching for mind numbing nutritional support.
Computers, cell phones and the internet? Don’t even get me started. What’s true and what is false is a cloudy grey. Social media is a cauldron of boiling misinformation resulting in a putrid stew of discontent and hate. Their use, by me, is mostly for banking, email, and weather.
So, while it’s still too cold to enjoy the freedom of my two wheeled adventure transport, I may catch up on some writing or some menial odds and ends jobs. Thou I may prepare for the worst; I expect none such to happen. But which ever the outcome, I WILL NOT PANIC! Why should I?…… I have toilet paper.