A different quarantine

NOTE TO SELF: exercise more; eat less.

I took the advisory seriously – threw out the remaining two-bite brownies and committed to at least a half hour of active exercise each day. Midweek I took a walk around Media. It was cooler than I expected, the walk was a little shorter, and the pace slower. These days being in a hurry seems pointless.

It’s unusual for me to walk around “my town” without seeing someone I know, or who knows me. I had such an encounter at Fifth and Monroe streets. Monika and Z Rehoric were doing outside work at their new Bed & Breakfast, the beautifully restored and renovated 1877 Gifford-Risley House. The enterprise began successfully, and I trust will continue once out of this quagmire.

After a brief wave to them I meandered in a rectangle of several blocks and noted only a few other folks – a couple, hand-inhand; an older man, taking a short rest before continuing; a few dogs taking their persons for a walk; and someone with a grocery bag. The sheltering environment is all the more reason to be thankful for our State Street Trader Joe’s.

Heading home, I crossed Providence Road without having to wait for a gap in traffic. Not even one car. For anyone who regularly drives in, out, or around the borough, this is pretty astounding. Later a friend said to me that the lack of traffic and most activity made every day feel like Sunday.

I’d thought that. But I also thought the Sunday was Dec. 7, 1941. This led to a further reflection on the present and the past.

My father, Albert, and my uncle Herbert Clofine were both in the military during World War II (postPearl Harbor.) My father was in the Quartermaster Corps and never left the states. My uncle saw action around the world as part of Merrill’s Marauders, a legendary unit about which a movie was made. It seems odd to me now that I never asked my father – or mother for that matter – about wartime experiences. And although I knew my uncle’s story in vague terms, he never spoke about it to me. (He ultimately shared it with the Library of Congress Veterans Legacy Project.)

From the start of the pandemic I made a comparison to war. This was hardly an original observation. My generation has had “wars” on, drugs, terrorism, and more than a few actual combat wars including the controversial Vietnam War. They were all destructive. COVID-19 seems different, and yet there are similarities to any war. The enemy is known; it can be fought with science, technology and strategy; and it will exact a great number of casualties before it is over.

What’s different is the global nature; the no-escape clause; and complete uncertainty of what is next.

America seems to have a continuing fascination with World War II. Dozens and dozens of films, dramas and documentaries have been and continue to be made, focusing on the machinery of war, social and psychological aspects. One can glean the food shortages; industries retooled for badly needed support materials; and people pulled together to help each other manage loss of lifestyle and loved ones.

I think what propels the retelling of the era is that victory over the Axis powers enables portrayal of our real or imaged characteristics: determination, steadfastness, optimism and courage. Did Americans feel that way during the war as much as after it? I wonder. Or were they as frightened in the midst of it as we are now?

Determination, steadfastness, optimism and courage; and while we are at it “Keep Calm and Carry On.”

“It’s unusual for me to walk around

‘my town’ without seeing someone I know, or who knows me.”

— Susan Serbin

Susan Serbin is a longtime Daily Times correspondent.