A Study in Contrasts

I started my day with a stop at Marchant's Foods to stock-up on perishables for the coming week.  Upon entering the store I was met with this....

Hand sanitizer, nitrile gloves and home-built masks for adults and children - free, for nuthin'.  The masks are being sewn by a county-wide network of volunteers for distribution to those who need them.  I know this as Jill has been cutting the components and running them to the local fire station for assembly by teams of volunteer sewers.  There was a jar for shoppers to throw a few dollars at this righteous and noble cause.

30 percent of the people that live here year-round are over the age of 70.  That happens to be double the state average and this is the most vulnerable segment of the population to Covid-19 infection.  As a consequence, the good people here on the peninsula look after our neighbors and make every attempt to honor the governor's, county health department's and local law enforcement's guidance to stay safe and stay at home.  Sure, nobody likes it (including me) but it's as much about the safety of others as it is our own - especially the safety of health care workers.  That is what good, honest and law-abiding people do.

Meanwhile in Brookfield, Wisconsin there was a gathering of people not honoring any sort of social distancing or wearing masks so they could protest state and local authority's request to stay safe and at home.  Or maybe they were looking for a Darwin Award for spreading Covid-19 on a very large scale.  Who knows.

In any event, one of the participants had hoisted aloft both a Gadsden Flag and the Stars and Bars of the Confederacy Southern Cross Confederate Battle Flag.  At first blush that strikes me as a mixed historic metaphor.  Maybe he skipped history class in high school or didn't graduate.  Or maybe history makes his head hurt.  I suppose you cannot fix stupid. 

photo - JSOnline

I take no issue with peaceful protest or airing your grievances.  Pick-up the phone and make some calls.  I do that periodically.  Nevertheless, behavior like this during a pandemic puts everyone's health at risk - including the health care workers that may end-up treating those that get sick or die from contracting a very unforgiving virus in a setting like this.  This is what selfish, self-indulgent and foolish people do. Whiners - the lot of them.

There is that Darwin Award thing too.

All I got to say is I'm glad I don't live there or associate myself with such craziness.