Abundance of Caution

I’m getting pretty tired of living in an “abundance of caution.” They canceled my favorite sporting event, March Madness. They want me to work from home. The only reason I work is so I can get out of the house. Now they are saying all of us old folks just need to stay home and die. Well, I added the “and die” part but you get the idea.

It’s not that this virus is the worse thing ever to hit mankind. It’s just that “man” kind has become unmanly. We are a society of wimps. Look at the facts: This thing is far from the worst virus ever. Relatively few die. Most recover. Many don’t even know that they are sick.

We have decided as a society that no one should have to suffer because of this. We expect to be paid even if we don’t work, to make a profit even if we close our doors. We demand a reliable “test” to comfort ourselves that we are not sick even if we have no symptoms. 

We close our schools but require them to continue to provide meals. Have our parenting skills come so low that we don’t feed our kids? 

Speaking of kids, we murder more of them before they are born than will ever die from this virus. 

This thing has not only made us fearful; we have become stupid. Why do we think we need enough bottled water and toilet paper to last for months? My daughter was told she should drink tap water and she texted me, “Have we become savages?” Yea, I think she was joking but still.

Let’s apply this “abundance of caution” lifestyle to its ultimate conclusion. It’s very dangerous to leave our homes. We could be in a life-threatening accident, be killed by a terrorist, get lost and not be able to find our way home, or we might catch a virus. It’s just not worth the risk to ever leave home. We could go out to eat, but there lurks muggers, food poisoning, and tip demanding waiters. We could go to the movies but what lurks in those dark theaters? When was the last time they were sanitized?

I guess we have been building up to this for a while. Many of us have TV screens that fill a wall. We have wi-fi that allows us to download entertainment to every device in our homes. Amazon has made shopping almost unnecessary and others are stepping in to fill the gaps for those who never want to leave their homes. 

I hope you realize that for many this “emergency” isn’t going to end. For a large group, going to church online, ordering everything for home delivery and never having to deal with people, is going to be a compelling lifestyle. Our nation will be, for many, never the same.

I guess this “abundance of caution” society has been building for a while. What we have now is just a logical conclusion. I’m just too old for this. At my age, nature is calling and I have to answer it. I’m not even going to promise to wash my hands. No wonder they want me to just stay home and die. It’s what they intend to do.