I watch a lot of Netflix now. If we are being honest, I watch a lot of other tv as well. Mostly though, I sit and think. I think while having that first cup of coffee in the morning, I think as I scroll through the latest news on the internet, I think when I eat my meals, I think in the shower. I don’t honestly believe that what I think about will make the slightest bit of difference in this crazy, fucked up world we are living in but nonetheless all the hyperactivity between the ears assists in making it through the day.
In normal times, the vast majority of my free thought goes towards a wide range of equally useless topics and subject matter. I wonder how the Prime Minister of Great Britain could get away with passing on Top Secret information to his mistress without anyone knowing during World War One. It’s a legitimate question, wouldn’t you agree? I weigh the pros and cons of getting a new set of irons – will I golf enough to justify such an expenditure? Would it make any difference at all in my game? Did the Astros really cheat their way past my Dodgers in the 2017 World Series? The Series was almost 3 years ago now and I always come to the same conclusion that they did cheat and then I become sick to my stomach all over again as I re-live it sequence by sequence. Fan is short for fanatic and by it’s very definition precludes any semblance of rationality. It simply is!
But these are not normal times, are they? All sports are at a standstill. Any other year we would be wrapping up March Madness in college basketball, the NHL would be busy grinding out the final few games of the season before the storied run for the Cup begins and of course we would have Opening Day of the MLB, quite possibly the greatest day of the year. All of this stopped, postponed and with it, a valuable escape hatch from reality. Instead, like the ghouls we are, case numbers and death totals dominate our thoughts and actions. We say that we are done looking because it’s all so depressing, yet an hour later, thanks to our up to date, round the clock, never unplugged 21st Century technology, we look again.
The cycle never ends either, does it? Don’t you wish it would? Yeah, me too! But it won’t, at least not right away. We are currently living through the greatest, most devastating pandemic the world has seen in the last 100 years. Answers are in short supply because nobody in living memory has seen anything like this. You have to go back to World War Two to get the same sort of disruption affecting the entire World. The mightiest nations on Earth have been brought to their knees, all of them, by a virus. Now that people, is some pretty heavy shit to wrap your brain around! And you are trying to, aren’t you? Yes, but of course you are. Don’t look at me, I am the same as you. I wonder as well. I count myself as lucky to still be able to get up and go to work because I know there are so many who now no longer have that option open to them. Then, another part of me wonders how long before I too must sit and wait it out. Questions arise in my head as to whether it is even right to be going off to work. Is it safe? Will I, without knowing, bring something home and infect others? Could I catch it? Would it kill me? Are we all just being overly dramatic? Seriously, what the fuck is going on? Yes, I think all those things too. I have no idea how or when this will all end. It will end though, everything must end at some point and when it does we will be changed forever. How we change is yet to be determined but this will change us, not unlike the other great moments in history that have changed us.
In the meantime we follow the rules and guidelines given to us by those in authority. You know them all by now, don’t you? We certainly are becoming a well-scrubbed society, I’ll say that. I’m even becoming accustomed to the ever-present smell of the hand sanitizer. What about social distancing? I think everyone knows someone who is currently or has been in self-quarantine. Some find this extremely difficult. Anti-social bastards like myself have very few problems. What are you doing during these odd and unusual times? Working out? I am – NOT! Come on, that is a lot of effort! Cooking? I made chilli yesterday and while I am not much of a chef, chilli is one of my specialties. Guess what? I fucked it up! Habaneros are not friends with my belly. Too much, too much!!! What about learning a new language? So far, total failure in that endeavor. It’s not even that hard either. Still hope though. I just need to get past “Buenas dias Senora.” Then we roll!!! Maybe next week eh? I still read though. Did you know that the greatest statesman of the 20th Century, Winston S Churchill, couldn’t boil an egg? Guess he had other things on his mind like saving the World from Nazi tyranny. Never drew his own bath either and he bathed two to three times a day. Hey, who says I can’t dwell on shit that is of absolutely no use?
Point is people, this is the new reality for the time being. We didn’t choose it, but live through it we must. Live through it we shall!!! Make use of your alone time, learn something new, even if nobody else gives a shit about it. Follow the guidelines as best you can, be kind!
And KBO – Keep Buggering On! (Ya, that’s a Churchill quote too – I have a few considering my library contains 30 or so books on him. This one I think is useful though.)