The situation about the COVID 19 virus is enfolding ever faster. New developments are released each day. Each day the government proscribes new ways to care for one another.There is wrong information out there. There is right information. There is information that is correct one day but is out of date the next. There is panic and far too little common sense. It is a frightening situation.
I watched a man being interviewed on television last Friday. He was at the airport. He was going on an overseas holiday despite all of the warnings. He was asked why he was doing this. Why in the midst of all these warnings was he still going away? He said well he wasn't scared. He wasn't part of a high risk group. He was healthy. He felt that people his age group who got the disease usually recovered. So even if he got sick, his risk was minimal.
His way of thinking is wrong though. Yes he was young and healthy. Yes probably if he caught the disease, he probably wouldn't die because of his vitality. But the thing is, what about the family of the man. Were all of them healthy? Did they have an underlying medical condition which might make them more vulnerable. What of the people on the plane, at the airport, in taxis, in hotels, in restaurants, in stores that the man would come in contact with. The man at the airport might not get horribly sick, but he had contacted so many people on his holiday. Maybe they weren't quite as healthy. And who knows how many other people these service people might infect.
I also know that our health care system is strained. There are already extensive wait times for surgeries. There are not enough beds in hospital emergency rooms. Intensive care wards are already at capacity. There are only so many ventilators to go around on a normal day. It only would take a few people coming down with the virus to push our already stressed hospitals to the brink. So the man, whether he is healthy or not, is in my opinion truly selfish for going on holidays when the government had already advised him not to do so.
Then there are the empty store shelves right now. We have all heard stories about the stores being packed and panic buying of toilet paper out there. I have read stories of some people who went out and purchased $20,000 worth of toilet paper and were making a killing out of selling it for hyper inflated prices on line. Eventually on line trading companies like Amazon and EBay put a halt on this price gouching much to the annoyance of these entrepreneurs now stuck with a garage full of toilet paper. These hoarders were only thinking of themselves. They were not thinking of the needs of the whole. They were making profit on people's panic.
The world is facing difficult times right now. Who knows how long we will be paralyzed with this virus? Who knows how volatile the stock market might become? Who knows if Canada will come to a stop like Italy, France, and Spain, and if it does so for how long will we be isolated in our homes.
The thing is we have a choice. We can be animals thinking only of ourselves. I am healthy so I can enjoy my holiday no matter how many people I might infect. I can make money for my family by buying 10,000 bottles of purelle so why worry. We can be like animals. Or we can be decent human beings. We can care for others. We can reach out to them by phone call or letter. We can follow the rules laid down by our government and protect not only ourselves but our less vulnerable neighbours as well. If we are blessed with full larders we can share our excess with our neighbours. I have always believed in the ultimate goodness of most people. During this challenging time, may humanity be known for its goodness and together we shall overcome. Blessings.
