From Afar

Today I woke up in both; a very familiar world and in a completely new one at the same time. Incredibly, the collision of two strange and foreign lands has somehow become the norm. I did have a glass of wine last night, but I know I’m not imagining things or feeling the effects of said liquid fermented grapes. These two are as real as ever, unfortunately, and it is absolutely surreal out there.

On the one hand, I am home alone typing and sharing this Monday as I do each week on this same day for my website www.Adversityrockstar.com. Nothing new here, as I live alone anyway. On the other, the entire planet around me is what I would aptly describe as being one step away from the states of panic and chaos, the likes of which we have never seen. You cannot turn on the television, listen to the radio, or even surf social media sites for distraction, without being constantly reminded of this mess we are in.

I swim in the sea of adversity for a living, so I can handle just about anything coming my way. It is clearly apparent many people cannot, however, as I have witnessed their actions recently in public. On Friday, I observed sheer panic in the eyes of my fellow human beings as they hurriedly walked in front of my car to gain entrance to the food store for their toilet paper and hand wash. Looking into the eyes of these total strangers, it was as if the world was coming to an end. So very many needy asses at risk of being compromised by this crisis.

Inside, I saw a society completely void of common sense or dignity. People quite literally pushing one another aside to grab the last bag of chips from the top shelf or counting the total amount of items in the cart the person in line in front of them had. Then reveling in the fact they were over the limit by two items, as they demand the person to go to the proper checkout line and free up the precious space for their own selfish timing.

“ I Just need one more package of toilet paper, four more boxes of Toasty Cheez-its, and enough paper towels to wrap around my entire house from the outside, and I’ll be out of your way”.

While looking for a new stove on Facebook Marketplace, I saw a man in Rochester NH selling an 8 pack of toilet paper for $100.00. His written words were “ don’t try and lowball me, I know what I have here”,  such a class-act. I am sure his mother is very proud. What a role model for his kids too.

In Upstate NY over the weekend, a man bragged about having over 17,000 bottles of hand sanitizer in his garage for re-sale after purchasing up huge quantities from two states. I am sure the medical professionals are happy to know where they can get it if they need to save a life or two in their spare time.

My child has an extremely compromised immune system as a result of years of medical procedures involving transplanted organs. It’s truly nice to know I can travel 8 hours and pay $20.00 a bottle for my hand sanitizer before I change his diaper and inject his meds through his port. “Thank you, kind sir”.  I am confident the rest of society is very happy with these types of selfish endeavors amidst a crisis, the likes of which we have never realized.

Is there really anything fun about being quarantined? No, but find a way to make it work. Instead of complaining about the disruption, how about giving back to society in a way you might not have ever taken the time to do. It is a shame it takes an outbreak such as this to cause people to change their ways for the betterment of the community, but if this virus is the catalyst…so be it.

Maybe buy a package of get-well cards and send them to the kids at a local hospital after taking the time to personally craft a note on each one? Instead of worrying yourself sick about the scarcity of napkins, paper towels, and tissues, perhaps check on your elderly neighbors who may be without some of the true necessities? Or organize a neighborhood effort whereby each house on your street, offers up small amounts of food, toiletries, books, clothing, water, or other wanted items, to be delivered to those less fortunate at a local shelter as they too, face this crisis.

People fighting critical illness exist this quarantined way each and every day for months and months on end, and amazingly they never complain about it. They understand the importance of stress and realize it is not warranted over something as menial as being quarantined. Their daily needles hurt, and their hopeful treatments burn from the inside out as the course of the critical liquid through heavily trafficked veins become next level. You see, in the world, I exist in, I understand this reality. I have lived it with my child for most of his life. It seems, many people cannot.

The Coronavirus has arrived, and completely kicked common sense, empathy, and compassion to the curb with it. In my 52 years on this earth, I have never seen such a wide-ranging display of panic-stricken self-serving actions in society all around me. Two worlds indeed have collided, one of them needs to remind the other about human decency and charity, however.

I know which world I live in, but how many people do you know or have come in contact with recently, who need to look in the mirror and seek the answer to some questions themselves. We are all in this together, or at least each of us should still think so. Right?

What the hell has happened to society in the last seven days? What happened to our familiar and caring world? Was it just a façade all along, has this new one now become our real existence in the face of a true and wide-spread global adversity? Dear God, I hope not. Let’s all learn from one another and take a positive and corrective step forward into creating a better world. Instead of this crazy one, we are all currently floundering in presently.

If there is another civilization watching us from some strange planet right now, I would only be able to say to them at this point with true regret …” welcome to the show”.

Bewildered…A

8 replies
    • Aric H. Morrison
      Aric H. Morrison says:

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  1. Susan Hinterbottom
    Susan Hinterbottom says:

    Thanks for writing this post. I believe we all should slow down and figure out what is going on. Not panic, but common sense right now.

  2. Alexandria R.
    Alexandria R. says:

    I came across this website by accident. Glad I came here. These blogs are my guilty pleasure now with my cup of tea. I watched your videos on Youtube too.

  3. Sherrie K
    Sherrie K says:

    This blog is so true. What a mess out there. I feel we are getting more reasonable lately though. It has been a real lesson to learn. Some people are very interesting !

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