Earth Day musings and Covid-cloud humour
I’m writing this on Earth Day, acutely aware of the sad irony.
On this Earth Day humankind is preoccupied with a deadly virus that attacks humans. The world is rightly taking drastic action to stop it. Commerce has changed radically and is being adapted. People are giving up their ways and their livelihoods but for most it is temporary, and for all it is necessary.
Humankind is the virus that is attacking the Earth. The world is not taking drastic action to stop it. Commerce does not want to change or adapt. People are afraid of giving up their ways and their livelihoods, even though it would be temporary as new means replace the old.
For all of us and the generations to come, it is necessary.
Both educated and uneducated futurists opine that where the earth is concerned COVID-19 is more of a symptom than a disease; another sign from Mother Earth that we have to change how we live.
In this way are COVID-19 and Earth Day entwined.
And even if you don’t hold that view, it is indisputable that COVID-19 has people thinking back to when subsistence was simpler.
Why is there an urge to bake bread, grow vegetables, and support local producers? Because we have an innate survival instinct that is as natural as breathing, an instinct that was easily satisfied in the pre-made, pre-packaged and, now we know, precarious PRE-COVID days.
When people can return to work they simply won’t have the time to actually do all the things they are motivated to do these days but hopefully there will be a conscious shift in appreciation for ways in which we can look after ourselves.
This is the first Earth Day where climate change is not top of mind but is top of mind, if you know what I mean.
I don’t have the scientific knowledge to explain why COVID and the condition of the Earth are related but even in the absence of science, if it makes more of us sit up and pay attention to the world around us, that’s a silver lining to the COVID cloud.
HUMOUR HELPS
And speaking of the COVID cloud, I’m glad you’re enjoying the social media humour I’m sharing to help lighten the load, like this isolation diary:
Day 1: I Can Do This! I have enough food and wine to last a month!
Day 2: Forgot chips. Went to supermarket.
Day 3: Discovered if you keep a glass of wine in each hand, you can’t accidentally touch your face.
Day 4: 8 p.m. Removed my day pajamas and put on my night pajamas.
Day 5: Opened my eighth bottle of wine. Fear supplies might not last.
Day 6: Get to take the Garbage out. So excited, I can’t decide what to wear.
Day 7: Some strawberries have 210 seeds, some have 235 seeds. Who knew?
Day 8: Realized why dogs get so excited about something moving outside.
Day 9: Tried to make hand sanitizer. It came out as Jello shots!
Day 10: Went to a new restaurant called The Kitchen. You have to gather all the ingredients and make your own meal. I have no clue how this place stays in business.
Day 11: Struck up a conversation with a spider today. Seems nice. He’s a web designer.
Day 12: Isolation is hard. I swear my fridge just said, “What the hell do you want now?”
Day 13: Laughing way too much at my own jokes!
Day 14: What day is it anyway?
• There is a logic to Florida opening its beaches; it’s nice to have a slight tan so you’ll look good in your coffin.
• You have spaghetti sauce stuck on your microwave since 1996 and you’re in the store acting a fool over Lysol.
• Thanks to COVID-19, Kim Jong-un is no longer considered the world’s craziest leader.
• And finally, the Serenity Prayer:
Lord grant me the strength to accept the things I cannot change, the courage to change the things I can, and friends to post my bail
WHEN I FINALLY SNAP. Wise man say “stay inside your bubble.”