It is Time to Change the Record. . .

Greetings Earthlings:

It's been a while since I checked in with you all.  I haven't been ignoring you, I just haven't had anything much to share.

It's been a full calendar year now since the world shut down.  And where are we at?  We've been thru the Stay Home orders and the Avoid All non-essential travel guidelines.  The major hiway, which we can see from our home, was empty for weeks.  It was quite eerie and very unsettling. 

We have seen toilet paper hoarding, flour and yeast shortages.  People suddenly became interested in a more self-sustaining/self-sufficient lifestyle.  Grocery store shelves were cleared off.  Limits were put on the items that were left.  

Greenhouse owners sold out completely by early May and most closed their doors in June because they were simply out of product.  There was a massive shortage of Mason jars and lids, due to all those wanting to learn how to can the produce they grew last summer.  

Restaurants went to Take Out only.  Small Mom & Pop shops either were forced to close down or offer curbside pickup only.  No hair cuts for you!  No physical therapy.  Stores stopped wanting Cash but demanded e-transfers and plastic payments for purchases.  Funny how Costco, Wal-mart and Home Depot weren't forced to close down though, hey?  

Senior and Assisted Living homes had the doors shut and locked.  No more visiting Grandma, for fear of making her sick.  People put hearts in their windows to show support for the front line, medical workers and shut ins. 

Those studying this all, changed their minds time and again.  Shut the Borders, but you can still fly to Mexico for your holiday.  Don't visit your family, but you can meet up with them at Costco.  Wear a Mask, but there is NO specific guideline on the legal requirements of your mask - it can be an N95 or your turtle neck sweater - both work - or don't work - the debate continues.  

Keep your distance.  Wash your hands.  Stay home.  School's Open. School's Closed.  No weddings.  No funerals.  You can still air travel - but you have to stay 6' apart in the airport, then get loaded onto an airplane with recycled air, sitting elbow to elbow with the wheezy guy next to you.  

No singing.  No gym.  But you can meet in the parking lot, at the park.  But don't play on the playground - Or you can play at the playground.  Go for a bike ride or a walk, but only with someone you live with.  You can play hockey, but you have to change in your vehicle and your mom can't watch in the arena sitting 30 feet from the ice and 20 feet from the other moms there.  Don't use the public bathroom though.  Use sanitizer until your hands bleed - Soap and water is best, sanitizer is too harsh on your skin.  

It's okay to dine out with your cohort, but you still can't see Grandma.  Shop on line, FedEx guy will deliver your product to your home.  FedEx and Amazon workers don't get the virus.  

Work from home.  Socially distance.  Lock down.  Re-open.  Protect our healthcare system.  This doctor says it's like a flu - more people die from cancer and car crashes in a year.  That doctor says it will kill you.  Kids can't get it.  Major outbreaks in 11% of the schools in the province.  

We have a Vaccine!  But it's only 60% effective.  And you still have to socially distance and mask if you can't, and it's only good for 7-9 months, but you can still catch the variant strain, but you probably won't die, if you get it. . . . But we're short supply and can vaccinate certain people.  Call or go online to book your appointment, but reschedule if you can, just cancel your first appointment. . . 

Is anyone else absolutely and completely mentally fatigued and utterly exhausted by all of this?  

The news changes daily, if not hourly.  Some groups get fined if they gather.  Others, nah, they're fine.  People are dying alone.  Weddings called off.  But the couple who owns their own jet can fly to a social gathering in the US for the Presidential Fundraiser or to the Yukon, to get their shots - I personally don't consider it a vaccine since its effectiveness doesn't qualify it as a vaccine.  

I. Am. Spent.  

I haven't seen my folks in almost 18 months. My Niece and her hubby had a new baby boy a couple of months ago.  How old will he be before it's "safe" for us to meet him?  

My father in law passed away last month, in a long term care facility, where he was forced to take the shots, which I believe with my whole, entire being, was the sole reason for his passing.  He was frail before he took them, but he was eating and doing quite well.  They gave him the shots.  Then he got sick.  Very Sick.  Very Quickly.  He slipped away in his sleep.  And my hubby couldn't visit him, as he had done for years, for the past 14 months.  It's just wrong.  

My grandkids all are growing up and we're missing it.  Hubby turned a milestone birthday and we couldn't celebrate it.  Am I whining and moaning?  YUP.  I Absolutely Am.   

This virus isn't going away.  They "thought" 3 months, then 6, then a year.  Lock downs don't work.  When things begin to reopen, another wave comes thru and the numbers soar again.  

Instead of putting more and more restrictions and rules that aren't being enforced anyways, how about we find a way to Live with it?  Yes, people are going to get sick.  They were going to get sick anyways because people who Are sick, refuse to stay home.  

It used to be, not so very long ago, that when you were sick, you stayed home.  Then you got well.  Then you went back to school or work.  

Then it became a "badge of honor" to work thru it.  People were bullied into going to work if they were sick, for fear of losing their job.  Now people "bank" their "sick days" and use them for extra paid holidays or early retirement.  If you phone in "sick" you have to produce a doctor's note.  Every body is made to feel guilty if they take a sick day.  And as a society, we have never been more sick than we are now.  People think nothing of going to their concert, out for dinner, running errands when they have a fever or are contagious with something.  Stay home, for Pete's sake.  You're sick.  Your body needs time to rest.  

We live in a fast forward, always moving world but are we any more productive?  No.  I don't think so.  All this fuss of working 48 hour work weeks and "needing"  to be there, suddenly got shut down.  

Suddenly, people Can work from home.  Suddenly they don't need that extra paycheck since they aren't spending money chasing themselves from here to there.  

They have learned to be at peace.  They have learned to rest.  They have learned to bake bread, plant a garden, cook a meal, read a book, enjoy some family time without meeting yourself coming and going.  

We have learned that grocery store clerks are absolutely an essential service.  As is the delivery guy, the long haul trucker, and the janitor.  But this still isn't going away any time soon.  

Governments who couldn't "Afford" to raise senior's or disability pensions have suddenly found Billions of dollars to supplement those who can't go to work?  Really?  We couldn't get CPP Short Term Disability for my hubby, who needed back surgery and we went 18 months without a paycheck, but we were both suddenly apply for CERB?  Really?  Are things not somewhat skewed here?  

I have said right from the start of this:  Follow the Money.  Who is benefiting from this?  I am absolutely Not questioning the validity of this pandemic.  We were due for one, as they seem to come in 100 year cycles, as per our records of the many others in the past 500+ years.  It's just How This One has been handled.  Yes, we are a very mobile society and I believe that had it been contained right at the first hint of it, they probably could crushed it.  It's How it was handled/  Kind of like closing the gate after the cattle got thru.  This whole thing has been a Comedy of Errors right from the beginning.  Too many opinions.  Too many decisions.  Too much misinformation.  Too much information.

Open the doors.  Let people choose for themselves.  It's time we got back to living our lives.  There is no guarantee that you won't get this virus, even after following "all the rules".  Yes, the health care system Will be taxed.  But shouldn't our healthcare system Be better funded, with adequate workers and beds and supplies, instead of finding ways to cut every corner and pay the least we can for the people who have our very lives in their hands?  How is it possible that a politician make more money and work less hours than a registered nurse?  They can afford to give themselves raises, but vote to cut wages and hours of those who care for us?  They spend more money on private jets, business expenses and what not, then quibble over whether a hospital actually Needs that Cancer Treatment Center?  Say they can't afford to pay our doctors fairly, but find billions for CERB?  Really?  Me thinks things are incredibly skewed here?

I personally, haven't been out in any crowds from November 1 to January 31st - the height of the flu season - for many years because I am one of the "lucky" ones who has a compromised immune system.  I choose to stay home, because I Know that I Will catch something from Someone who Refuses to stay home when they should.  

I am also one who always gets sick when I travel by air, because I somehow always get to sit behind or beside "that" passenger who is coughing and dripping and sneezing.  Why not refuse those people entry to the stadium, the restaurant, the trade fair or the airplane?  Why not?  Because it is not other people's place to make the call if someone can enter or not.  Apparently it is discriminatory?  And so, I don't go, because I know, I Will get sick.  It's my choice whether or not I want to take that chance.  My Choice.

Give people some credit.  Those who are going to continue to slag off the guidelines and do what they want are going to continue to do so.  Those of us who Are following the Guidelines, wearing the mask, following protocol, doing the "responsible" thing, are living in limbo.  

And what has that got us all when we hear on the news that politicians are going to  Hawaii for Christmas, "Because it's a 17 year Family Tradition"??? Seriously???  This was where I completely lost faith.  Faith in those who mandate what is "Best for Us", "Stay the Course", "For the Greater Good".  And yet, they get to do whatever they want to do?  Those of us "following the rules" cancelled Christmas, "for the greater good".  Why don't these "Rules" apply to everyone, equally?

The lock downs are Not working.  

The verdict is still out on the Masks.  

We are taught from infant-hood that we need to:  Wash Your Hands.  Don't pick your nose.  Don't lick the doorknobs.  

Those who are going to do what they are going to do, are going to do it anyways, regardless of the "rules" - which aren't being actually enforced, in most circumstances.  Heck, restaurants can open up during the enforced closure, without being fined, only to get to re-open the next week anyways as part of the "re-opening" schedule.  Don't make the rules, if you have no intention of enforcing them - you only make yourself look more foolish, cause people to lose more faith in you and make others wonder they are "following" the rules since apparently, we don't "have to".  It's Not Working.  

The rest of us just have to wait it out and keep following those rules.  For how long?   They are only "guidelines" we are now being told.  Sigh.  

This is Not Going Away any time soon.  And especially now that "they" say it is mutating.  I suspect that it will continue to mutate as time goes on.  

The Restrictions Are Not Working.  They bend the curve slightly, then it bounces right back again.  People can't stay holed up in their homes indefinitely.  Those who are going to go, are going to go.  Those who aren't comfortable to go or see their loved ones, won't.  

We need to figure out a way for us all to live with this.  It is time to Change the Record.

Enjoy your day.

Gremlynn