Pandemic Panacea – Day 488

Pandemic Panacea – Photo: L. Weikel

Pandemic Panacea

I’m not quite sure why, but it felt, today, like the country finally hit a tipping point. All of a sudden people seem to have awakened to the fact that this pandemic is real and it’s going to start impacting all of us now. Yup. Even Americans.

It wasn’t the President finally declaring a national emergency, either. I say that because when I ventured out today, hours before the declaration was made (and “no responsibility at all” was taken), I most definitely detected a dramatic shift in attitude all around me. People were more than edgy. It wasn’t quite panic yet; but the anxiety level was dramatically more palpable today than it was at the start of the week. And the parking lots of all the grocery stores were packed.

Cleaned Out

I was especially astonished when I went into our local Giant supermarket and discovered a ‘pathway to checkout’ had been created, guiding shoppers to their designated cashier in a chute not unlike cattle going to…

Yeah, you get the picture.

But upon chatting with the cashier who was lucky enough to encounter me and my dozen bars of cheddar cheese to ring out (don’t judge; we all have our comfort foods), I discovered that the real craziness had started yesterday, when people were apparently so backed up into lines waiting to check out that other shoppers couldn’t get down aisles or even enter the produce department. Hence the rope line today.

Glad I missed that.

I have to admit, I didn’t even go down the paper goods or hand sanitizer aisles. I did, however, think I might pick up an extra bag or two of frozen spinach – but as you can see from the photo below was quickly disabused of that notion.

Frozen Vegetables Decimated at Giant – Photo: L. Weikel

What’s Really Important

I’ve come to the conclusion that this unprecedented societal experience we’re all having is causing us to run up against some pretty profound choices and realizations.

Some of these might superficially seem mundane. But I actually think they may give us more insight into ourselves than we realize. I sort of think that’s at least partially behind the run on toilet paper. I’m not judging it one way or the other; I’m just saying…it says something about us if the thing we don’t want to get caught without for several days is toilet paper. Perhaps something different if it’s cheese. The hand sanitizer is in a league of its own. We are dealing with a rampant damn virus after all.

Pandemic Panacea

Which brings me to the light bulb moment I had earlier this week.

When I started thinking about what I might want to ‘stock up on’ just in case things get really dicey out there, I made a shocking/not shocking discovery of what’s most important to me: coffee and chocolate. Two substances that have the power to either perk me up or take the edge off…just enough to help me find my center and maintain my balance.

That’s why, earlier this week, while other people were plotting their runs on bathroom tissue (poor choice of words?) and before hand sanitizer flew off the shelves in droves, I made sure I had enough of my precious panacea to tide me over for a potential long haul.

According to dictionary.com, panacea is defined as:

1. A remedy for all disease or ills; cure-all.

2. An answer or solution for all problems or difficulties.

It’s my considered opinion that we all need to find our own unique Pandemic Panacea. Given my earlier admission about cheese, I supposed you could add that to my PP list. And yeah, there might be a couple other eclectic additions as well.

What’s interesting to me is that I have a feeling this is just the first of a number of discoveries I’m going to make about myself as I bear witness to something I can barely imagine unfold before my very eyes.

Coronowl Pondering Chocolate – Photo: L. Weikel

Confession? I might have to retreat into my shell occasionally. Hint: the chocolate pictured above may not be the only kind I’ve squirreled away.

(T-623)