Just before the panic for toilet paper swept my area I was searching for a N95 mask to protect myself however it was already too late. I ended up buying a half mask respirator the kind with the gas mask cartridges. Up until this point I'd been going out in public with a used N95 mask I had laying around and safety glasses. At the time the fear was so thick you could cut it with a knife in the grocery store and the first time I went out with the respirator I asked myself "Is this too much? How will people react to my precaution?" I rebutted with "Who cares what anybody thinks I have someone to protect and I must do all I can not to get infected." The reactions... well they varied depending on who it was. Women for the most part were cool, I got second looks because of my gear but most of them kept their opinions to themselves and my interactions with the clerks were as if I wasn't wearing any PPE. I got the same reaction from men except one guy at home depot few months later when quarantine was ending and restrictions were lifting.
This young guy openly said second-hand within ear shot that my mask was ridiculous, this is not the Canadian way in Canada we are nice to your face and talk shit behind your back. I met this same guy in the parking lot and he jokingly said that his buddy beside him had Corona virus to me. I walk up close to him and said " You know this serious just because we don't see the effects here other countries such as Italy are suffering the effects of this pandemic". Now I don't know if it was because I was in this guy's personal space or if he thought he might get stabbed but his toned changed he kind of agreed with me and somewhat apologized. I told him not to worry about and went on my way. I was fuming on the way home. "Where does this guy get off telling me his opinion, if I cared about people's opinions of me I wouldn't be going against the grain?" I eventually calmed myself down by saying "You handled yourself well and in the grand scheme of things this interaction was minuscule. Weeks later I came across this video from Larken Rose and now I agree with that home depot guy, my mask wasn't ridiculous but the fear that motivated to protect myself was an over-reaction to what mainstream media was projecting at the time.
The Solutions were more harmful then the Virus
Stay at home do your part to help flatten the curve. The measures were always preventative against COVID but what about our human need for connection. SELF-ISOLATION, SOCIAL-DISTANCING. Even the terminology goes against our very humane needs. Did you hear how domestic abuse was on the rise since quarantine and that the victims rarely reported the abuse? How about how those in recovery relapsed because they could not cope with the isolation and overdosed. Why do we need to be so scared and where are you leading us? Now that restrictions are lifting the narrative has changed we NEED TO HELP THE ECONOMY RECOVER. I'm with George Carlin on this one. How this my concern? Why should it be my concern? YOU INFLATED the monetary supply with your STIMULUS and CERB cheques, inflation is supposed to be increasing 2% that you can no longer maintain. Trillions to companies so the bubble doesn't burst and $8000 to the plebs that is taxable. Stop dragging it out and lets just have a hard reset already unfortunately for all of us the collapse didn't happen over night like I was expecting but may take years. Do what you can with what you got. And take care of yourselves and others if your up to it.
"I wish it need not have happened in my time," said Frodo. "So do I," said Gandalf, "and so do all who live to see such times. But that is not for them to decide. All we have to decide is what to do with the time that is given us."
