I don't mind my own company. I have had to spend some time on my own. I am an introvert and know that it is ok to have quiet times. I have enjoyed going to silent retreats and spending a weekend away with my thoughts. It was just fine. It was a time when I could stop hearing the voice of others and try to hear the voice of God. However my solitude was on my own terms. I got to decide if I was on my own or not. I could break my quiet time and be around others. There were not external restrictions, only those that were placed on myself..
This Corona Virus season is different. People are being first asked, and now in many places commanded to stand 2 meters apart from one another. Where possible we are told to stay home and minimize outside contact with others. Health care workers tell us that they are working outside the home to keep us safe, and so we should stay home to keep them safe. It is a scary time unprecedented in our time.
Some people have refused to heed the warnings to limit their social contact with others. Brady Sluder, is a Ohio college student partying down for spring break in Florida. When asked today why he wasn't paying attention to all of the dire warnings he said. "if I get Corona, I get Corona." Such cavalier attitudes are shocking. If Mr. Sluder does come down with Corona it may well be a mild case for him. He might feel like he has the flu for a few days and that is it. But the thing is, everything that Mr. Sluder touches if he is infected might pass the virus on to someone else. Everyone that Mr. Sluder talks to might fall ill. And many of those might not be as robust. And the cycle continues. People who have been in contact with Mr. Sluder, might infect others. Mr. Sluder might get through this just fine, but how many might suffer just because he wants to party.
All of us need to think of others right now. Someone said that if you want to stop the spread of this virus live like you have it and you are trying to protect your 97 year old grandmother. We are self isolating, those of us who are sick, those of us who are carriers but not yet ill, and those of us who are healthy to protect the sick and the vulnerable. We are staying home to lessen the load on the medical system and so that life can get back to normal. It is the right thing to do. Blessings.
