I’m following the stay at home orders. I wear a mask whenever I go to the grocery store or pharmacy. I make sure I only go when I have to instead of making trips to pick up one thing. I still have my two trips a week when I go clean a friend’s home and get their garbage out on the curb. This is essential as my friend cannot do it themselves. Other than that, I am walking the dog a lot and trying not to go stir crazy.
I miss going to church. Our church leadership too the wise step of closing down when this first started and we were limited to groups of 50 people. It wasn’t just Sunday services and choir rehearsals that stopped. We also had to shut down the Tuesday Women’s Luncheon and Thursday Morning Central Mission Breakfast. Both of these programs were for the members of the homeless community in Austin, Texas. I volunteered on Thursday mornings. I would get to church between 6 and 6:30 to do the prep work so we could get the breakfast cooked and ready to go by 9 am. I miss seeing my fellow volunteers. I miss seeing our clients. This was my way to pay it forward as so many people helped me when I was homeless.
The church is still handing out sack luncheons and coffee, but all the other services had to be stopped. The 2.5 hours of time in a safe place has been replaced with a sack lunch to go. We are no longer able to have the clothes closet, assist with bills, or the monthly bus pass raffle. While I am thrilled my church is still finding ways to help, I hate that we have had to stop so much just for health reasons.
What makes me furious is the lack of leadership and common sense during all of this. Due to the lack of widespread testing, the numbers for infection and deaths is way under reported. This has to change. Most of the leadership is giving misinformation or suggesting insane so called “cures” or “treatments” that are dangerous and can even kill people. Then we have the leaders who say losing more people to death is worth it to get the economy running again. If the balance sheet is more important than people’s lives, then the elected officials should be the first people working in restaurant, bars, or other nonessential businesses. Let them sacrifice their and their families lives.
I am tired of the conspiracy theories and the bigotry that has reared it’s ugly head during this. I am tired of people thinking their personal freedoms are more important than their fellow man’s lives. There are constant stories of people ignoring the stay at home and no gatherings orders. The follow up stories are about people getting COVID-19 and some even dying due to this insanity. I don’t understand why going out or gathering as a group is more important than the general well being of the community.
The best thing anyone can do right now is stay home unless you are running an essential errand and wear a mask. Say thank you to every store employee you see while you are out. Don’t worry or get mad if the exact thing you wanted is not available when you go shopping. Learn to adapt and make due with what is available. Don’t buy 24 of something when you only need 4. The stores will still be open when you need more. Please god, don’t worry about your hair or nails. The salons will reopen sooner if you keep your ass at home. The staff will be happy to see you no matter how bad your hair or nails look. I wouldn’t suggest cutting your own hair, but if you do, please post a picture. LOL If we ignore the stay at home orders or open everything back open to quickly, we will be shut down again due to a resurgence of COVID-19. Flattening the curve is the most important thing we can do now.
We will come out on the other side of this if we work together. There will be church services, family gatherings, dinner parties, happy hours, sporting events, and other things we are missing right now. Please ignore the idiots who don’t want to follow the rules. Unfriend them, block them, drop them from your life. These aren’t people you want in your life. If they are willing to risk everyone’s life to get a little fun or buy the latest thing at the mall, they really aren’t the people you want in your life anyway.
Doing My Part for the Left 