Stir Crazy
Many of us have heard the phrase before, but haven’t really understood the depth of its meaning.
I googled it: adjective INFORMAL•NORTH AMERICAN
Definition: psychologically disturbed, especially as a result of being confined or imprisoned.
In a sentence: “She’d be in danger of going stir-crazy if she had to look at the same four walls any longer”
Now, watch it in disturbing practice here.
As the world navigates an unprecedented, highly contagious & deadly pandemic, some folk are storming state capitols and defending bars & beauty salons with guns. They threaten police, journalists, security guards & store employees, from California to Virginia. They are possessed with a rabid anger, demanding there governors & mayors give them shopping liberty by exposing them to death. And, we have politicians & pundits and those who value profit over people, cheering and funding them on (while they enjoy the luxuries & securities that most of us can’t afford). Let THEM get coronavirus, we need our profits & produce. If they die & get sick, they can be replaced. We must open America. 😷
An Invisible Enemy
Maura Judkis wrote about the “Ohio zombies” picture, which should give even the staunchest Republican, chanting with Trump to “Liberate” states and businesses and churches that are practicing responsible behaviors, to protect people.
You’d think there would be no opposition to people working hard to prevent further pain and suffering from COVID19 — but there is. A vocal & visible minority has caught the eyes of media and heart of the president and those working through their own illnesses & threat of illness to protect his power. Folks are demanding a return to “normal”. A normal that had millions of people here, and around the world, already suffering from unemployment and lack of access to basic necessities & freedoms that so many of us once took for granted. Having to order food online, work from home, do our own hair & nails, teach our children or work out at home has become a near death experience for some of us. We need our freedom back! Never mind the millions who lacked any or all of those luxuries. Never mind our obsessing to get back to work, when a few months ago, they were begging for time off. Be careful did what you ask for and how you ask for it. Nevermind that the rabid, deadly worship of a self-serving narcissist, who subjected his own family to Covid19, has better protections than you could ever afford.
I know, we are ALL inconvenienced in ways we would have never imagined. Unscheduled stay-cations & working-from-home is a quarantine for our lives. Why are you mad? Think about it, you are STILL so fortunate. Count those blessings. Start with the fact that your name isn’t on the growing list of those who have died from COVID19 & chronicled in the NY Times.
Our name could be on this list one day. Our name could be amongst the millions more who were sickened; not knowing if/when death might come. Those who know someone on the list, knows, first-hand, that covid19 is not a hoax. Almost 100,000 Americans & over 240,000 people won’t see Memorial Day 2020, because of a fatal illness that the U.S. President, the Brazilian leader, faith leaders and others in power call this virus a hoax.
Those — with common sense — aren’t questioning the dangers of this virus. REAL leaders & those who value their own life; and the lives of those they claim to love or serve; take COVID19 seriously — even, if the numbers are going down. Even if wearing a mask on a beautiful day is uncomfortable or inconvenient. Imagine the inconvenience of coordinating a virtual funeral, if you want to weigh what’s important. Imagine the isolation of quarantine, ICU or being intubated and placed on a ventilator, before busting out from your bout of stir crazy. Imagine the isolation of a coffin. This is what a cult looks like.
Priorities
A golfing President & those with resources can demand testing for people who come into their circle. White House staffers, tested daily, turn up positive, while the rest of us still don’t have access to ONE test. No one is exempt. No one should be forced to work or risk losing a job, because you value your health and the health of those who you love. We’ve gone from the haves and have nots centering on who gets a test. Think about how access to care and resources were allocated before COVID19. Now, imagine how some in power might determine who gets access to the vaccine, based upon how lives are, currently, valued.
We are over three months into this pandemic (formerly called a hoax), and, if truthful, most all of us are tired of the restrictions. We don’t think at all about those who were already confined by affliction, physical limitations or institutions that were created long before COVID19 became a thing. Most of us are wise enough to realize the consequences — and count our blessings. Others have gone stir crazy.
Many have written about and studied the dangers of solitary confinement. We now see the impact of those who have shackle-less freedoms; unbound from the limitations of the incarcerated; but are parading around here as if they have, literally, lost their minds. Those are the ones declaring, “Give me liberty AND, possibly give me COVID19 (sickness & death). They are stir crazy, but look like regularly folk.
Blame Hollywood
This series of ads, part of a Kenyan based campaign to remind citizens of the threat of COVID19. If ‘Rona looked like this, we would know what to avoid:
But, it doesn’t. And Hollywood, with its eyes-rolled-in-the-back-of-the-head, cyclops, Thriller-esque, creatures from the black lagoon, head-rotating ghouls, has trained us to fear visible demons. We expect the sickness to descend upon us like a green (or red or pick a color) fog, which we can run from — unless it catches us while we are asleep. Zombies, like those in the Walking Dead series, can be spotted a half mile away and we can choose to fight or flee.
No Netflix series or movie director would have imagined we’d have Walmart shoppers spitting a possible pathogen at people (we don’t know who’s got it). What script-writer would have written about Costco customers demanding their constitutionally-sanctioned right to shop without a mask — and threaten employees with the wrath of their social media followers? What show-runner & producer would have promoted a tale, where an elderly man would use his nose as a weapon to terrorize an employee at Dollar Tree store? Yep, grandpa has become the “booger-man”. Really.
Obamacare coverage?
We need to take a deeper look at the mental health of people who value pedicures, bench presses & piña coladas over people’s lives. We need to assess the mental well being of preachers, politicians & pundits, who will sacrifice the lives of others as long as the economy is restored.
We see the signs of those who are stir crazy. If they are people you know, ask them if the inconvenience is more important than life, itself? Be careful, though, they might spit on you with their feverish, frantic declaration of the need for their independence.
Stay Strong People
Trouble don’t last always. There will be a cure. We will need to adjust to the next normal. Don’t you want to live to see it?
These signs are good reminders for us all to LIVE by. May those with common sense remain the majority and lead us through this pandemic and those to come.
May the forces of reason, smart voting, good sense & mask-wearing be with us all! Be counted in the census. Register for and demand fair access and safe voting rights.
For those lacking the ability to process what’s important in our nation and their own lives, let’s pray for their healing through a comprehensive healthcare system for all. Let’s pray they are exorcised from the demons that are clouding their good sense. Folks with common sense will fight for them, too.
