False optimism

Recently a writer friend ask us to critique a piece on the silver linings of the COVID crisis.

The essay was excellent, and she writes very well. This is not a criticism of this writer, but of an overall approach, and a rant.

I see no silver linings in this situation.

The world has been brought to its knees by a deadly microscopic cell and the fears and paranoia it has created. People can’t pay their rent and families are going to be evicted. Children went and continue to go  hungry because they didn’t go to school. Students will receive even more inferior educations. Colleges will go out of business. Colleges that don’t go out of business will cut their programs. Businesses are going bankrupt. Drinking is up, a lot. Depressive disorders, too. Allegedly suicides Hundreds of thousands of people didn’t go to the doctor for important care because they were discouraged from doing so or scared. Charities can’t fulfill their commitments. 

(Of course, these conditions came from the response to COVID, not from COVID.) 

Adding this a day after I originally posted, in the modern world we "thoughtful" people complain about how isolated and disconnected we are. I think the shutdowns have shown how interconnected and interdependent we are and how society falls apart when the government insists we stop our interconnectedness. 

Yes, some of us are fine. I am. It’s not been fun but not hard for me. I still work, have a good paycheck, am productive, exercise more. The air is cleaner. The world is probably quieter. There are fewer traffic wrecks. Not everyone I know has it so easy. Worst of all, too many people  are  still terrified to leave their homes.

The church I attend is opening up this weekend. We have to register for services. I have mixed emotions about that to say the least.

Was is a hoax? Of course not. It’s a wretched disease. Are the death rates correct? Don’t ask me; they could be much higher or lower. Did Georgia and Texas and Colorado open too early? I don’t think so, but we won’t know for a while. Did the government handle this well? Is that a serious question?