Day Eight: They are me!

Life in the light of the Corona Virus. We are in this together. Who and what is working against us?

This is the eighth in a series of 14 entries chronicaling the first 14 days of the Corona Virus quarantine on the island of Maui, Hawaii. The Nineth Day will be published tomorrow. Click in to read it at https://karenmac1999.wixsite.com/website-1 or enter this address on your Favorites list on your computer. Do you have comments or additions? Send them to Karenmac1999@hotmail.com. They are welcome.

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Day Eight

Life in the light of the Corona Virus

They are me!

One week and one day into social distancing/isolation.

Thoughts on day 8 of isolation.

I wake up every morning after a generally restless night. I perform the 10 second test. Can I breathe in deeply and hold it for a long count of ten? So far so good!

Imagine that this is the primary item to be thankful for—the very breathe of life. Among the spiritualist crowd, always on the lookout for the glass half full, this check in on the status of lungs is the ultimate in getting back to the basics. The very basic skill of being able to breathe is about as simple as you can go.

Live in gratitude and therein find joy!

I imagine those who lose their sense of smell and taste and fail the deep breathing test face an ultimate challenge.

“To go to the doctor, receive confirmation and possible exposure to others with infection…or not to go to the doctor and tough out the illness at home, while shielding other family members from the illness”.

And under it all is the ultimate dread…is this the first page of a death sentence?

Over 3500 deaths in the US alone as of this date 3-31-20. Feeling symptoms and realizing their import is like finding a lump and having a doctor tell you it’s cancer. Your whole life passes before your eyes. Then the faces and futures of your family roll by. At this point, something else is rolling…tears. No one can describe the sinking feeling that is present.

Everyone faces death. Its inevitable. One imagines a long life and then a sudden painless death, prepared for and dignified. Like cancer, the corona virus disregards that imagined scenario. Imagine instead a death with no family present, an inability to communicate, machines whirring, loss of control over conditions, lack of movement, pain at the most basic level of breathing, indignities going unnoticed in the midst of the fight for life and breath.

So I look at the numbers and daily statistics and I see their family and their friends and their role in society. I see their fear, their panic. I feel their helplessness. I see the care givers trying to ease the pain, to deal with the symptoms, to calm the panic that lives in the eyes of the afflicted.

I see the heartbreak of everyone connected to each and every number. They are not statistics. They are not expendable. They are not collateral damage. They represent our neighbors and our friends and our family. They are also the neighbors, friends and family of people they know. They are the waitress who brings our meal, and the mechanic who fixes our car, and the teacher who loves our kids. They are not just numbers. When I hear leaders who disregard the humanity behind each death and say 200,000 deaths is s “good job” my blood boils, my stomach tightens, tears flow and anger raises at the dismissal of every important life, every affected family, at every minute and hour spent trying to save that life…

because they are me!

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Hawaii, paradise, Garden of Eden, immune to the Corona Virus! NOT! What is above is number nine of a 14 day diary of the thoughts of a person living in Hawaii, but under quarantine, isolation, social distancing, call it what you will. Any way you define it, it means changing the way you interact with others in order to protect yourself and those you meet and congregate with and love. It is a morphing experience, differing from day to day over the weeks, perhaps months! enjoy the journey, grow with it, think the thoughts, and create thoughts of your own.