The Bologna Blog

Quarantine

It must be the irritation of isolation that is getting to me, but the term the media has adopted to define our current circumstances makes me want to scream loudly. Picture it or count the number of times you have heard it on the radio the words I am about to give you. Every commercial, news story, or announcement by a politician contains the phrase, "during these challenging times."
I guess the phrase is descriptive when discussing the ninja-like skill of avoidance we now have mastered in our grocery shopping or the ability to carry on coherent conversations through masks. It seems with each crisis faced there is a need by the media to coin a word or phrase to used repeatedly. It is challenging to wake each morning without the luxury of a routine. It is challenging to celebrate birthdays, weddings, and holidays. The word "challenging" does not define completely what the pandemic has deposited on our doorstep. Planning funerals these days is heart wrenching. Living life without pay checks is horrendous. For some not knowing if they can feed their family is grueling. Watching co-workers fall ill is excruciating. Fencing children in the same house for endless days with their abusers is a nightmare. Watching as the number of mental health issues rise the longer quarantine lasts and the inability to treat them is frightening. Realizing that most Americans are ignoring health concerns for fear of going to a hospital is troubling. Filming nursing home residents wave through their windows like captive zoo animals is heart breaking. Scavenging masks, dividing up PPE, and using allotments of hand sanitizer is appalling. Watching politicians (on either side) turn this event into a campaign is arduous. So I say, the word "challenging" does not seem to paint a clear picture of the pandemic.But what I find challenging is to not shed a tear when I see the stories of people helping people. My heart swells when a co-worker brings me a jar of peanut butter because she knows I like it and have been having a hard time finding it. I dance with joy at the kindness of the stranger who mails me ear protectors just because they wanted to. I can hardly help from crying when I see someone buying groceries for the senior citizen in their life. I am amazed by the cavalcade of cars that drive by a child's house to let them know they are special and worthy of a birthday celebration. I am thrilled when I see families stand outside the windows of nursing homes everyday to wave at loved ones. As the news caster says, during these challenging days, there is good and there is bad. WE have to seek out the good and see each other through the bad. .