Weary

When you're weary...

People are getting weary.  The stress goes on, day after day.  No one knows how long the self isolating is going to need to last.  Jobs are being lost.  Businesses are closing.  The economy is crashing around our ears while every effort is being made to mitigate the effects of the coronavirus.

I have the privilege of staying at home, so I am doing that.  According to the medical experts, it is the best thing for people who are immune compromised to do, to protect themselves from the virus.  Nor would I want to spread it.  So I stay home.

As an introvert, it is no (or little) hardship for me.  I have my toys - er, looms - and I have a stash.  As it diminishes, my choices become harder insofar as I have to work harder to combine colours in a way that is pleasing to my eye.  But run out of yarn?  Not for a very long time.

OTOH, my inventory is growing.  More slowly than 'usual' but there is no need to fret because I am retired from doing shows.  When I question why I bother making more because who will be able to afford to buy hand woven/made anything?  I take it as a poke in the eye to the pandemic - take that, virus, you can't stop ME!

A friend commented that my timing to shut down my business was impeccable.  But at the time it didn't feel like a choice but that I was being forced into it by my body protesting decades of hard physical labour, and other outside pressures.

However, she was correct in that my business shutting down the end of 2019 meant that much of my business expense is now gone.  The biggest expense was, of course, the annex.  Doug moved the last of the things out just before the end of February, and just before the pandemic hit our shores.  So I am relieved I do not have the rent to pay on that.

As teaching gigs got cancelled, I saw any hope of income from that quarter dry up.  Since I do still want to teach I am hoping that those events will come back, but there is no guarantee things will be as they were before.

No one knows what awaits us the other end of the pandemic tunnel.

In the meantime, tempers fray, relationships break down, jobs are lost, income dries up, not just for me but millions.

The faster we flatten the curve, the sooner we pay attention to the medical professionals guiding us through this, the sooner we can begin to socialize again.

In the meantime, people have taken to services like Zoom to have virtual meetings.  People are working to help those in need.  I have read so many stories about people, not just celebrities, but everyday, ordinary folk, working hard to bring help to those who need it.

People are finding PPE for hospitals - dyers, donating their masks and gloves.  Preppers, delivering boxes of N95 masks.  Well known people offering to collect and distribute PPE to where it is needed.  Using their high profile in society to gather goods to help hospitals and medical staff.

What I am not seeing are a whole lot of billionaires, who have more than enough for entire countries, stepping forward.  Oh there are a few, here and there, which is all well and good, but honestly?  Not enough.  Not nearly enough, considering how many people with very little are doing more with their little than those with a lot doing next to nothing in comparison.

Mr. Rogers used to tell children to look for the helpers.  I would like to add my voice to that.  Pay attention to those who are helping.  And those who are not.

Pay attention to who is profiteering and stuffing their pockets full and who is giving their last dollar to help others.

Listen to good advice from actual medical professionals, not politicians with pseudo information who are not just not helping, but actively hindering in the efforts to get PPE to the people who actually need them.

See the companies who pull out all the stops to re-tool and make PPE and do not price gouge in the process.

Yes, it is overwhelming.  Yes, it is depressing.  No, the system is not supposed to work that way (I'm looking at a certain someone who tweets from an oval office) - it is supposed to actually provide relief, not make things worse.

So look for the helpers.  Help when you can, if you can.  Lend a listening ear if you see someone struggling.  Provide a shoulder - virtually, of course.  Build bridges.