Love in the Time of Coronavirus
Love in the Time of Coronavirus
Help Out Those Who Can’t Work From Home!
Help Out Those Who Can’t Work From Home!
You may have seen the FB post pictured below.
We’re all in this together—whether you get CoVID-19 or not.
It’s tremendously laudable to quarantine yourself—and not just for yourself but because you want to contain the spread of CoVID-19, keeping it especially away from the most vulnerable folks (those immunosuppressed, very young wee ones, seniors, and medical-care providers on the front lines).
even a month-long medically-necessary containment can spell bankruptcy for those who wield the all-in-one title of CEO/Bean-Counter/Janitor
Where’ve Ya Been?
For instance, Pam and I were in Manhattan in mid-February, then at a Colorado Avalanche hockey game at the very beginning of March, not to mention that I performed cases as a Standardized Patient at two institutions of higher medical learning—all of these before containment efforts were begun.
quarantining yourself, where possible, is the frikkin’ right thing to do, Mr. Bigglesworth
Not knowing whether we had exposed ourselves to CoVID-19, we quickly cancelled our presentations at a conference this weekend and shut down our on-site work activities. Thankfully, Pam already works remotely, and my places of work have shifted to remote alternatives. Though we haven’t yet come down with the virus (and hope we don’t), I’m pretty sure that we will one day contract it, despite the well-laid plans of mice-and-medical-measures.
But That’s Not the Point
We’re in good enough health to weather it, I hope. And sequestering ourselves isn’t designed to “keep us above” the vicissitudes that others face, like the doomed hoity-toity in Poe’s “Masque of Red Death.” It’s to tamp down that spike from happening to all of us, overwhelming our civilization’s abilities to weather this pandemic.
We’re not waiting for the sky to fall — we’re just postponing the celebration and simultaneously helping each other get through this as unscathed as possible.
Nor are we “virtue signaling.” Amidst the vacuum of leadership and the refusal of some to learn from our past, Pam and I (as well as numerous state/local governments, schools, and private concerns) are picking up the slack and doing what we should have in 1918–19 when the Great Influenza devastated the world—namely, listen to those who’ve dedicated their lives to researching and preparing against a pandemic. Though it’s epidemiology, it’s not rocket-science to listen to the ones who know whereof they speak.
Simply put, quarantining yourself, where possible, is the frikkin’ right thing to do, Mr. Bigglesworth.
Back to Business
Which brings us to those who can’t afford, financially, to quarantine—vulnerable small local businesses, who, like numerous American households, live on the margin, month-to-month. Thus, even a month-long medically-necessary containment can spell bankruptcy for those who wield the all-in-one title of CEO/Bean-Counter/Janitor, therein robbing their employees’ of livelihood, as well.
Give Credit Where Credit Is Due
Do the following simple gesture to support your small-business neighbor:
Pick a local small business that you patronize.
Tote up the amount you’d normally spend there were you not quarantined.
Then, advance them some credit in the form of gift cards you can use when, in the near future, we’ll all be slapping ourselves on the backs for having beaten CoVID-19.
Postpone the Celebration
Hey, you were gonna spend that money anyway, right? And, hey, the NHL, NBA, et al. are gonna eventually play all those scheduled games anyway, right?
We’re not waiting for the sky to fall—we’re just postponing the celebration and simultaneously helping each other get through this as unscathed as possible.
Pop the digits into your phone. Reserve a gift card. Share the love. Support ALL THE FAMS through this rough ride.
To learn more about my trans journey, check out my memoir, How to NOT Know You’re Trans or one of my novels!
As always, your respectful comments are appreciated. 🤗