Camp Meeker Beat by Tom Austin - April — 2020
I apologize in advance. I know to a near certainty that virtually every column in this month’s issue will lead, follow, and get out of the way with Coronavirus content. I also know for a near certainty that you’re pretty sick of reading about that virus. Everyone is talking about it, writing about it, reading about it, anguishing over it. What do I have to add that has not been said already, and then some? I apologize, once again, profusely. And yet I plunge on.
There are hidden blessings and silver linings here. I have been working from home since Monday, and it has been, I am slightly ashamed to say, glorious. My commute is down the stairs to the kitchen, there to make a luxurious cappuccino in the big bowl-like cup. Far from losing productivity, I find that diving into mundane work tasks with total concentration is a wonderful tonic to aimless anxiety-mongering and obsessing over the case count. I can work at my own rhythm, and I won’t be judged for staring into space for a minute and collecting my thoughts. And the view out my window, into our collective forest, beats a cubicle nine ways from Sunday.
But then again…I’m an introvert, as are many of you. Introverts are probably a higher percentage of the population in Camp Meeker than in the world at large. Who else would CHOOSE to live in a forest, far from the conveniences and gathering places of the city? Now, don’t be smug. This is not time for us v. them thinking – there’s far too much of that about already. Have some empathy for our extrovert brothers and sisters. They are feeling the pain of this isolation keenly, and could use our help. Have faith, extroverts! We still love you and miss you!
We’ll get through this together. Extroverts and introverts, hippies and rednecks, planners and improvisers, reds and blues, those who roll their precious tp over the top and those who drop it down the back. That’s the real lesson of all this: none of that matters. We’ve got bigger fish to fry.
How does that play out? We’ll find out, won’t we? This social distancing is turning out to be tricky in some cases. A community is normally thought of as operating through laws. Over time, that’s still true; but laws are built up over time. When conditions on the ground change rapidly, as they are decidedly doing, institutions tend to be too slow to react. They have to overcome bureaucratic inertia. We don’t have the luxury of time this time. We are all responsible for keeping each other safe. Think of it this way: every time you screw up, someone’s grandma dies. But hey, no peer pressure. Okay, a LOT of peer pressure. That’s how a society modifies behavior in the absence of laws. In the modern world, peer pressure is communicated online. Much of this discussion, locally, is being conducted through local social network media such as Next Door, West County News Feed, our own Gazette, and a dozen others I am probably not aware of yet. The landscape is changing rapidly.
As we are experiencing, peer pressure is a knife that cuts both ways. Sometimes, it puts the shame where it belongs: in every picture of a crowded beach, or an empty toilet paper shelf, there are some miscreants who are making the problem worse. There are also people who are just trying to get by, who are washing their hands, who are staying six feet away. Sometimes these are the same people: we are all of us saints as well as sinners. And one of those sins, if you’ll pardon the overworked metaphor, is in casting the first stone. There is a lot of fear in the world right now, and this calls on each of us to respond with love. I will leave exactly how to express that love to you. You’re a big boy or girl; you know what to do.
It’s all quite overwhelming, I know. I find it helps to focus on one small thing to get the ball rolling. I will suggest this one: form a network with your closest neighbors. Know who lives alone and might need some help. Make sure you have their phone number so they can reach out to you. Get in the habit of texting each other: Is everything okay? How are you doing? How can I help?
Let’s start there.
