Looks like the virus is bringing out the worst in some of us

Unless you’re a recluse, you’re probably tired of covering your face, keeping your distance, and live- streaming bad shows. Most of us have found ways to cope with it. But I read the headlines and I am convinced that any day now, Mad Max will be rolling down my street in a cloud of deadly dust.

I mean, what else are we to make of a 76- year- old man in a Cadillac fatally shooting the “neighborhood cigarette man.”

How crazy is that?

The white man has run off with the weed business and will make enough money to send his grandchildren’s children to Harvard and Yale, and the Black guy selling bootleg smokes on the street gets killed by a regular customer over a package of Newports.

I won’t even get into how many people those things have killed since they were being sold in drugstores for 25 cents.

The Chicago Sun- Times’ Tom Schuba reported on Wednesday that “Illinois has the most expensive pot in the country,” according to industry analysts.

While the “average cost for an eighth of an ounce is roughly $ 62, in Colorado, the same amount costs around $ 33,” Schuba reported.

Greed, a cousin of Selfish, has definitely set in.

But the “Most Selfish Chicagoan” award goes to Jessica, 21, and Jayla Hill, 18, two sisters who allegedly stabbed a store security guard 27 times because he confronted them about not wearing a mask while in the store.

Witnesses described a chaotic scene with one woman stabbing the man while the other held him by his hair.

Where have these women been?

The face- covering mandate has been in place in Illinois for nearly seven months.

That this violent incident was sparked by a store employee’s attempt to enforce the face- covering mandate at a time when there is a surge in coronavirus infections is telling. Too many of us still don’t get it.

After Mayor Lori Lightfoot and Gov. J. B. Pritzker succeeded in presenting a unified front against the pandemic, mostly agreeing on what needed to close and what could safely stay open, Pritzker’s decision to ban indoor dining threatens to undermine that partnership.

Lightfoot is concerned that Pritzker’s new restrictions might not “reach the right people.”

Meanwhile, shuttered restaurants will be yet another blow to an important slice of the city’s economy.

She raises a good point.

The Hill sisters are extreme examples of people who are too selfish to think about anything but their own wants.

But too many of us won’t care about the harm COVID- 19 is causing until it personally touches our lives.

This second round of shutdowns is a wake- up call.

We all miss eating out with family and friends, but Thanksgiving and Christmas won’t be the same if this virus is part of the festivities.

Frankly, eating out is not a fun experience when you are wearing a mask and worried about the person sitting at the nearest table. And let’s be clear.

When Dr. Ngozi Ezike, Illinois health director, breaks down and cries during a briefing over the direction this pandemic is heading, then you know the threat this virus poses is as dangerous as it has ever been.

The restaurant owners that survive this pandemic will have figured out how to satisfy their loyal customers outside of four walls. After all, what has been a disaster for some restaurateurs has been a godsend to a lot of caterers.

And while cannabis sales may be booming, Zoom cocktail parties are going to be with us for a while.

Since many of us are living in a bubble and only socializing with close friends, it is extremely frustrating to see so many selfish people walking around publicly without a mask.

So far, Lightfoot and Pritzker have put saving these lives ahead of saving livelihoods.

But there is only so much the government can do to protect us from us.

We need to stop being so selfish.