By: Mary Khon
Hola, Queeridos!
I hesitate to ask you how you are doing because for the last two months we all have been living in captivity. Okay, is not really captivity but we have been living in very unusual circumstances, most of the time inside our homes, trying incredibly hard to keep ourselves busy and if out, trying harder to practice social distancing. So, I imagine you are doing okay. And you know what? Okay is good. We don’t have to be doing great? This is not the time for that. Right now, doing okay is very good.
The Coronavirus, also known as COVID-19, has truly turned our lives outside down. The entire world has been at a standstill, trying to overcome a pandemic that took just a few weeks to change our lives in ways we could not imagine.
I’ve learned many things during our ‘shelter-in-place’ situation. One of them is that our country is not ready for this type of situations. Since I was a boy, I’ve been fed the myth that our country is number one. Well, this virus showed us that we are not really number one. And I’m not referring to the fact that the orange was horrible at handling the situation, no. I’m talking about how, suddenly, we were able to see the inequality of our healthcare system. How those with money and fame get what they need while the rest of us don’t. I am talking about how, the rich and famous tried to “cheer us” up by posting how they were handling their #stayathome situation or announcing concerts from home instead of donating money or launching a campaign to help the less fortunate. I am talking about how, despite all the visual and concrete evidence, the Stoopids continue to support unqualified people simply because. I am talking about how religious manipulation and ignorance has advanced to the front, defying government mandates and putting everyone else in danger. I am talking about how religious leaders actually showed their true motivations and yet the faithful continued to support them, which basically confirms my suspicions that this country is, in fact, living completely in a fantasy.
Of course not everything is grim when it comes to the situation. Despite the number of deaths in Italy, people came out onto their balconies and sang together. In this country, teachers organized themselves using Facebook, and shared with each other any type of resources in order to transfer classes from face-to-face to ‘remote learning.’ Many restaurants kept their doors open, not to sell food but to give food away to those who didn’t have it. People posted on infinity amount of videos about anything, just to entertain others. But the best thing of it all was that the theatre industry (mostly European) opened its doors to the world by streaming free arts performances to everyone. There were a few American theatre companies that did the same, very few, and many who opened streaming services but charged money to see their shows. They had to, because they need to survive… and because this is a capitalist country that no matter what situation we find ourselves in, people will figure out a way to make money out of it.
For me, COVID-19 made me realized how unprepared I am in if were to die. And I don’t men that I am not emotionally or spiritually prepared. I am. I don’t have the emotional struggle to satisfy a being that may or may not let me into heaven. I also don’t’ have the emotional fear that I will be going to hell; I do not believe in such things. What I mean by “how unprepared I am” is that, while my husband and I have talked about what we want once we die, we have never actually written it down. We have not done any legal preparations, and we have not truly plan things so those who have to take care of matters once we die, can do it as we’ve wished, as needed, and without any financial difficulty.
COVID-19 has really given us a sense of mortality, not just to my husband and I, but to everyone, well, except the majority of the Stoopids, who think everything is a plot against them, or that everything will be solved with prayers and that just believing in a god is enough.
Anyway, I have no idea how we are going to react once this whole thing is over. Maybe by the time you read this, everything is over, or perhaps it is not, and life just goes on as it did before. But life will not go as before, things are going to change and I hope they do for the better, otherwise we are doom to make the same mistakes once again. That cannot happen! Okay, enough. Breathe. Practice logical distancing!