COVID-19 side effects
By that I don't mean a medical term, but something very different.
Millions of words have been written already about the devastating virus inching it was around the world -- killing and weakening people and affecting just about every aspect of life. Not much I can really add except to say that in an instant, things can change. Not only the things themselves but the perception of those things.
For example, you know how teenagers are, and probably have been for decades. They love to congregate in droves, or at least, groups. All of a sudden, on of them returns from an academic program overseas and is forced into quarantine. Only one person at a time is allowed to enter her room. The trouble is, she has two sisters, and lots of friends. All of a sudden the peace that reigned between the two sisters for years has exploded. Each considers it the most important thing that she be allowed in first, and allowed to stay the longest. The mother, who is generally happy to have all her kids at home at the same time can be heard tearing her hair out!
Then there is my daughter. We take care of our little grandchildren -- 2 and 3 -- very often because of their mother's work and other situations. Sometimes we complain, because it really is tiring. We work all day, and then come home to pick them up from nursery school till the time their mother comes home. All of a sudden, things have changed: their mother is in the food industry, which is understandably suffering a lot from the pandemic. And the nursery school is closed for two weeks, though I doubt it'll open anytime soon.
Ordinarily, we wouldn't mind a bit of a break from babysitting. Only, now a break has become a hiatus. Sure, the grandchildren could come here while we're pretty much in lock-down. Only, kids carry the disease, and can transmit it to parents and grandparents -- people in the "high-risk" category by virtue of age. They're too young to understand, our grandchildren, but they do know they're not seeing the people they normally see 5 times a week at least. We do phone and face time, but somehow, it doesn't cut it. Suddenly, we're really sad we can't see them and get tired.
Suddenly people who may have been "blah" about religious services and rituals are missing them something awful.
How quickly things change -- both things and perceptions.
Millions of words have been written already about the devastating virus inching it was around the world -- killing and weakening people and affecting just about every aspect of life. Not much I can really add except to say that in an instant, things can change. Not only the things themselves but the perception of those things.
For example, you know how teenagers are, and probably have been for decades. They love to congregate in droves, or at least, groups. All of a sudden, on of them returns from an academic program overseas and is forced into quarantine. Only one person at a time is allowed to enter her room. The trouble is, she has two sisters, and lots of friends. All of a sudden the peace that reigned between the two sisters for years has exploded. Each considers it the most important thing that she be allowed in first, and allowed to stay the longest. The mother, who is generally happy to have all her kids at home at the same time can be heard tearing her hair out!
Then there is my daughter. We take care of our little grandchildren -- 2 and 3 -- very often because of their mother's work and other situations. Sometimes we complain, because it really is tiring. We work all day, and then come home to pick them up from nursery school till the time their mother comes home. All of a sudden, things have changed: their mother is in the food industry, which is understandably suffering a lot from the pandemic. And the nursery school is closed for two weeks, though I doubt it'll open anytime soon.
Ordinarily, we wouldn't mind a bit of a break from babysitting. Only, now a break has become a hiatus. Sure, the grandchildren could come here while we're pretty much in lock-down. Only, kids carry the disease, and can transmit it to parents and grandparents -- people in the "high-risk" category by virtue of age. They're too young to understand, our grandchildren, but they do know they're not seeing the people they normally see 5 times a week at least. We do phone and face time, but somehow, it doesn't cut it. Suddenly, we're really sad we can't see them and get tired.
Suddenly people who may have been "blah" about religious services and rituals are missing them something awful.
How quickly things change -- both things and perceptions.