Site icon John Loraine

Pandemic reflection

It is another month, another day or rather another evening as I am writing this and life goes on. I haven’t noticed how one month became another, and here we go, welcome all to March. It’s been a busy couple of months of this new year so far. Everything was happening too fast too much, and there was no way of stopping it until recently. Maybe that is why the time just flew by over my head without notice. Is it because I am getting old faster? Or is the world coming to an end? The older I become, the more I think about life, mortality, diseases, and what the future is holding for us. Nowadays, that the novel virus is in the air pretty much everywhere, everyone is wondering what the fuck is that going to be like?  

Just about two weeks ago it all was just another media story, another hype, just so foreign and so far, and away. Two weeks later, it became a disaster, and we don’t know how we are going to deal with it. I mean, we do know, but do we do enough to prevent the spread of this virus? Not really. There are still so many people ignoring all the warnings, and then we see a whopping seven hundred plus percent increase in coronavirus cases in the United States alone in just one week! That just tells me how many fucking ignorant idiots there are in this country and how fast they confirm their ignorance and carelessness. But also, it tells me more and more that things like this ‘new flu’ virus should not be ignored. Regardless of the media is overblowing it, if Trump says this or that, if nobody you actually know has it, or if you are on your Spring break, the danger is real. For all those who just don’t give a fuck, it might, and it will catch up with you and anybody else who is not behaving responsibly and who are not following the basic rules such as social distancing and washing the hands regularly. It is all up to us, you and me, not Trump, not Pence, not China, not your local douchebags representatives, who only get involved with you when they need your vote. It is up to us because it is about our lives, our families, our children, and our future.  

Looking back two-three months ago, I remember the first stories in the news about the Wuhan and the ‘new flu virus.’ They named it ‘coronavirus’ due to its molecular structure that looks like a crown. There are these beautiful little red crowns on that fucking virus molecule image that is so fucking strong and powerful and killing. Nobody cared about it, of course. It was solely China’s problem. We’ve forgotten that the majority of things we own, anything from our plastic containers to our fucking iPhone, are made in China? And that the way everything is wired and the way globalization works, the world is just such a smaller place now. If there is a virus in China, it could be anywhere within days. If things like manufacturing or production stall in China, the entire world is going to be impacted by that. And that is what actually happened. Then people traveled back and forth and spread the goodness. And now, this fucking virus is everywhere.   

In the beginning, they called it ‘coronavirus,’ and the officials informed everyone that is it a dangerous virus. It was supposedly affecting mostly older people with already established respiratory problems, so most people didn’t care and didn’t respond to it as they should’ve. In just this past week, this virus was renamed to ‘COVID-19’ all over the media, I guess to make it sound more scientific and to have people react to it as it is a much more severe issue than something fairy-tail-sounding like ‘coronavirus.’ Now that we have a new death-toll record every day in Italy, Spain, France, United States, and everywhere we go like, fuck, this shit is real, and it kills people like a motherfucker! We need to be more careful.   

Well, that is happening, and this shit is viral now like nothing else in the world. Now we have government injecting all these billions into the stock market to ‘fix’ the economy. I mean, fuck the stock market. The rich will live. They, unlike anybody else, have the fucking resources. And who gives a fuck about the rich anyways? The majority of us, paycheck-to-paycheck living savages, have less than a thousand dollars in our savings accounts. If we miss a few days of work, who’s gonna pay the rent? The majority of us are fucked.   

There are multiple reports already of various companies cutting back on production, laying off their employees, or having them stay at home without pay and stopping hiring new people unless you want to deliver shit to others during this crisis. This is already killing the economy, and I think that the economy has been fucked too bad. All those billions invested in the stock market to save it were just wasted. I mean, we could just order everyone to stay at their fucking homes for a few weeks or a month and keep them on the payroll, as usual. The government could’ve wave all the taxes and anything else that these companies have to pay out and basically just freeze all the transactions and expenses for a month. Once the virus passes or the spread goes down to nothing, then resume everything and go back to normal. Or the government could just send everyone a paycheck right that first or second week in, for the next month or two to keep people on the float until they can go back to their jobs or find new posts, instead of injecting so much money into the stock market. This is not hard, and it will not kill the economy or all of these businesses as bad as this shitshow and uncertainty that we already live through today. It is just the fucking greed, and like why would I pay you or keep you employed if you are not working and I am not producing or selling my shit? Well, after we see what is happening and how the situation has worsened with every day, you, greedy fucks, won’t be producing or selling much of anything for quite some time now. Now we all are in the deep shit. Those who forgot the 2008 fiasco, go and get yourself some toilet paper, sanitizers, noodles, and eggs because this shit is here to stay.   

Now back to us, the regular folks. Why are we so fucking crazy? You don’t need to worry about the stock market too much since most of us don’t have anything to invest in. Why are we so fucking greedy and impatient and selfish? Are the toilet paper and the hand sanitizer what’s keeping us alive? Those who decided to capitalize on the high demand for these basic necessities and directly being responsible for empty shelves and reselling these top demand items for a ten-fold profit, fuck you. I hope you will fucking burn in hell, and the Satan will fucking feed you the toilet paper and lube your assholes with hand sanitizers before penetration! Booyah! There is and will be enough for everyone. Buy what you need and exactly how much you need, and there will be enough for all of us. This is nothing different than the typical day of your ordinary life before the pandemic, just keep calm and carry on. This is a time to think about each other and help each other and share with each other. We need to be there for us to survive. We are one large community. We can pull it off. We need to stay healthy, and we need to stay together.  

We’ve been on the quarantine for about two weeks now, and our life is not the same anymore. I think the craziness with buying everything in large amounts has stopped, the panic has settled but the uncertainty is still there. We’ve stacked up on the supplies and food, and our Netflix had been binging like never before, but yet, nobody knows what’s going to happen next. Nobody knows how long will this last. We are fighting an invisible enemy, and this enemy is getting stronger by the day. The number of confirmed cases has almost doubled worldwide since a week ago, and there are new death records in various countries around the globe daily. I guess this is still far from being over. The danger is still there, and it is still high.   

Those who are lucky to stay at home and work from home take it a bit easier. At least they have a job. Those who still have to show up are going to face the risk every day, and that sucks. Those who’ve lost their jobs are not in the best place right now. There are families who depend on every paycheck on every dollar and not have that paycheck come in in the next week or a month is just devastating. But life is not over yet, and the end of one thing can always be the beginning of something new. This is a great time to reflect on our lives. This is an excellent time to think about what’s important, what’s really matters, and what doesn’t. It is time to pause from our usual ‘busy days’ and think about where are we heading? How do we want to live this life going forward? How are we going to become better people, better society? 

I’ve spent two weeks staying at home working from home. Recently, I’ve realized just how much I was missing the simple things like being outside, driving the car, going to the gym, office, grocery store, restaurants, and so on. I am worried too much about the pandemic instead of enjoying these lovely sunny days of the early Spring. All those things that I’ve always taken for granted have become so desirable and kind of critical now. I know that I am a different person now. I hope that all of us will be different and better people after all this ends, and hopefully, there want to be too much damage done by then. We have to believe in a better future. We have to ensure that there will be a better tomorrow for our children and for us. We are the people. 

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