I agree with you overall. In many ways, there's been a plethora of empathy and I really think some good that will emerge long term from all this. Perspectives on what's important in life and on how much so many of us do have. What time with family really can look like. What connecting with friends can mean. Yet in other ways, not nearly enough. Same with fear. Same with patience. Same with understanding. We're paying an awful price for being so behind on taking the threat and data seriously months ago and, like you said, having a more cohesive, strategic plan based on cooperation vs. competition and blame.

The question of "how long can people sustain these restrictions?" I don't know. But longer than 8+ weeks (which is what it's been for us in MA). The economic impact of all this is SO real and felt by SO many. Hopefully economic rebound can happen as quickly as hoped (I'm optimistic). But the human cost is much more. And yes, issues of mental health, domestic violence and all that is and will be an ugly by-product of all this. Our stay-at-home order expires 5/18 and I fully expect it to be extended two, possible three more weeks before (and while) some things do start reopening in phases.

It's all just so amorphous and frustration and fear of the unknown is, I think, really natural. And the goal posts have been pushed back a couple times now. But when the Tiny P**** Brigades start marching on state capitols armed to the gills and intimidating like terrorists, sorry, there's nothing reasonable or remotely intelligent or relevant going on there.

But at the same time part of having empathy is accepting that this is all so unprecedented and there is no blueprint for solving it. There just isn't. People- me included- love deadlines/finish lines. But there is none yet here. And frustration builds and spills over. So when "So and so was wrong!" gets spat out with such venom I think "yeah, and how are they supposed to have all the answers lined up in a neat row?" This is learn-as-we-go to the Nth degree... I suppose I'm simply in the camp that more short-term pain equals greater long-term gain for us all. It's incredibly frustrating to see guidelines set forth about when and how things could get triggered to begin opening up in phases only for states to push to supersede them before remotely hitting those milestones and put people even more in harm's way and give back hard-fought ground.

I was in line outside a grocery store last week and a guy was standing there, mask in hand yet refusing to put his on until he was at the store's door, pronouncing loudly "this is what they want!" and "I can't believe Americans are standing for this!" I was, honestly, really embarrassed for him. I suppose some warped view of it as weakness or subservience or something. The rugged individualism of this country is one of its greatest traits. But so is the collective sense of pride and caring."I gotta get mine" is not the priority in this moment...

If wearing a mask inside stores or in any crowded places for a couple months- or 4, or maybe 8- makes a difference in lives saved and in the time this thing is with us (and it without question does) before bigger treatment breakthroughs are on hand and healthcare capacity is built out further then where is the question? Sorry but civil liberties aren't being harmed here. I'd love to go get a haircut too (and tip my barber 3X normal) than have my wife do it on the front porch. Or have a beer and wings at a bar (same 3X tip to the bartender). Or go see a movie. But opening smartly and cautiously to see scientifically what's working, what isn't and being able to ID and tackle problem areas vs. just reopening out of frustration and cabin fever are just two way different things. Methodically helping more and more companies/workers come back is a HUGE priority. So is getting kids back to schools, elective surgeries and dental treatments restarted, construction sites, and all that. But it's just not an all-or-nothing proposition. Tattoo parlors, nail salons, Vegas casinos, Disneyworld, yeah, sorry, but you have to wait a little longer.. No, not a year or four... But weeks more than some places? Yeah, most likely.

So many have been through so much worse by comparison. My mother was a little girl on the southeastern English coast during WW2, and watching German bombers fly over toward London almost daily, sometimes them dropping their excess cargoes on the town on their way back across the Channel, daily air raid sirens and calls for everyone to put on helmets and take shelter, years of food rationing- that was sacrifice. Can we please just buy more time as a country to further see improvements before filing lawsuits about not having golf carts available on the reopened golf courses?

One man's thinking.



Edited 6 time(s). Last edit at 05/11/2020 11:02AM by LMU93.