Week Nine of pandemic life

It has become a way of life, this pandemic.
Checking stats each day to see if New Jersey's curve is beginning to flatten.
Looking out the window just to admire the greening of the trees in our backyard.
Walking around the neighborhood, saying hello to people I don't know.
Vowing to know more of them when this is over.

My life has been on the indoor side for years anyway.
As an editor, I spend hours at the computer, often losing track of the time of day.
So being in the house isn't hard for me at all.
But for nine weeks?
With only a trip to the drugstore or a ride in the country to break the monotony?

Having an appointment with one of my doctors seems like a real treat.
A few minutes spent, yes masked, but sitting a few feet away from someone else.

What I am having the worst time with is my anger.
Daily, I watch tv footage of people marching, often armed, demanding that states lift restrictions, go back to "normal."
I listen to the medical authorities who say this unusual virus has already mutated once and is more contagious than it was at first.
I don't want to stay indoors for another two months, three months or more.
I want our curve to flatten enough that we can move about, carefully and with common sense, without sheer terror of contracting the virus.

But every person out there who is chomping at the bit to go to a restaurant, walk through a supermarket or attend a sporting event, puts me at risk. Puts my family at risk. Puts everyone with whom he/she comes in contact at risk.

How dare they?
How dare they put their selfish demands above the well-being of others?
How dare they force this quarantine to last...and last... and last.

Their selfishness is disgusting.

Yes, I am sympathetic to those small business owners who are suffering the loss of their livelihoods.
Yes, I believe some can open safely if they follow guidelines and rules.

But many Americans don't do that.
They think they are so exceptional that rules and guidelines only stifle their freedoms, not keep them safe.

We raise our kids to be concerned with others, to take care of people, to follow the Golden Rule.
Well, being outdoors in large groups, unmasked, standing shoulder to shoulder, while a vicious virus is still circulating from person to person is simply stupid.

And as a lot of people have been saying lately, you can't fix stupid.
You can only hope stupid isn't contagious and that eventually stupid is forced to conform to smart.