Romanticizing COVID

Has anyone else noticed that the media is practically romanticizing the shutdown? We see countless commercials that make it seem like a sweet retreat that we can zoom and have other virtual videos with loved ones. We see children and families smiling and playing with each other as if on vacation. No one is stressed or worried about the fact that they have no jobs to go back to or income to pay the bills of yesterday, today, or tomorrow. As artists sing Kumbaya songs from their fancy studios, and "leaders" and health professionals make videos from their financially secure bunkers, there is another story festering in the darkness.

During these days of COVID shutdown, I go out making food deliveries to the elderly and health compromised who are alone in their homes. As they timidly open the door, I can peek in and see that the house is in darkness and I wonder if I am the only living soul they see in the flesh each day. I would love to give them a hug but I begrudgingly keep my distance to acknowledge their fear and honor their perception of safety. I look at reports of alcohol sales going up over 500% and I worry about the safety and well being of men, women and children who were in treacherous unstable homes even before this lock-down. My deepest fears become confirmed when I talk with a client who is a social worker and she tells me that domestic violence and suicides have gone up.

While I understand the need to "make lemonade from lemons", I wonder if this is not also part of desensitizing us to accept a "new normal" by making us think - "Oh that was not so bad." Like frogs in a boiling pot of water, we do not even take note of the fact that we are dying.