There are many memes on social media depicting some hilarious stories about being socially isolated. As we look through the sarcasm of the memes, we can see elements of truth contained in the messaging. For instance, you have no way of knowing if I am wearing my nighttime sweatpants or my daytime sweats as I write this post. I'm not sure if I can even remember at this point.
Does it feel like you have cooked dinner 795 times in the last month? Have we all gained weight in the process? How many different bows have been put into your pet's growing hair? What TV shows have you binge watched? Are you one of the people that managed to get toilet paper before it all went missing? Are you now distraught because there are no hair coloring kits left on the shelf?
Schools are shut down and a ton of comments have been made about parents now "homeschooling" their children. As I watch the societal shutdown linger on and on, I am convinced more than ever that it is time for adults to enhance their education. We need to be observing what is going on around us to better understand the implications. We have received a full semester course load in the last few weeks.
What do I mean? Let's just sample a few areas of content that have been put before us during the pandemic.
Philosophy--What is your worldview? Are you pro-life? Is it survival of the fittest? How does your worldview impact the way you assess the pandemic?
Economics--How does a free market economy work? Going back to your worldview, do you prefer socialism over capitalism? The toilet paper supply chain was just a small glimpse into the fragile balance of supply and demand for one product. What happens when that balance is disrupted for the food supply? How about the consequences of the power grid going down?
Personal Economics--How long can people go without income? If unemployment jumps to 30% as some projections have indicated, will the death rate from poverty surpass the death rate of the virus?
Sociology--There will be plenty to study for years to come following this global event. How much did the suicide rate go up due to isolation? What did being home bound do to the level of domestic abuse? Based upon alcohol sales that have been reported, what impact will societal shutdown have on the rate of addictions to alcohol or other substances?
Psychology--What will be the long term psychological effects of enduring this whole mess? It isn't just the fear of the virus; it is the media hype 24 hours a day. It is the gamesmanship of the politicians. It is the experience of loss. It is the grief that accompanies that loss. All of this is occurring without any of the usual social support systems in place. Isolation has consequences.
Biology/Chemistry--What is true about the virus? What is true about the treatment possibilities? Going back to economics, who benefits from prolonging this shutdown? Who benefits financially from a vaccine?
Statistics--Speaking of truth, how are we classifying deaths today? How do we make the statistics say what we want them to say? Oh, it goes back to economics. Your organization gets more tax dollars for each death classified as a COVID 19 death. Got it. While we are on the topic of statistics, tell me more about those models used to predict the number of deaths.
Political Science--Who is connected to one another on the global stage? Whose money is influencing a particular agenda? Cast that net wide. Pay attention to the World Health Organization, the National Institute of Health, all the people getting time in front of the TV cameras, and all the lesser known entities as well. Connect the dots.
Journalism--Would it not be wonderful to have real journalists in Washington sincerely trying to reveal facts to the American people instead of their own biased political viewpoints?
Constitutional Law--If the mainstream journalists won't do their job to protect our constitutional freedoms by exposing corruption and tyranny, we better start sounding the alarms ourselves. As one meme put it, "I hope they let us out of quarantine by July 4, so we can celebrate our freedom." Look at how quickly we moved into a semi-police state. I am not over stating that. People being arrested for walking alone in a park is somewhat serious. You can't even park your car in the church parking lot without threat of being tracked and ultimately penalized. "Oh, you want people to die." That is not what I am saying. I am asking for common sense. It is not a zero sum game.
I could go on at great length and into much more detail about some of these topics. There are more content areas to add as well. All I want to do is ask one simple question today:
Does it feel like you have cooked dinner 795 times in the last month? Have we all gained weight in the process? How many different bows have been put into your pet's growing hair? What TV shows have you binge watched? Are you one of the people that managed to get toilet paper before it all went missing? Are you now distraught because there are no hair coloring kits left on the shelf?
Schools are shut down and a ton of comments have been made about parents now "homeschooling" their children. As I watch the societal shutdown linger on and on, I am convinced more than ever that it is time for adults to enhance their education. We need to be observing what is going on around us to better understand the implications. We have received a full semester course load in the last few weeks.
What do I mean? Let's just sample a few areas of content that have been put before us during the pandemic.
Philosophy--What is your worldview? Are you pro-life? Is it survival of the fittest? How does your worldview impact the way you assess the pandemic?
Economics--How does a free market economy work? Going back to your worldview, do you prefer socialism over capitalism? The toilet paper supply chain was just a small glimpse into the fragile balance of supply and demand for one product. What happens when that balance is disrupted for the food supply? How about the consequences of the power grid going down?
Personal Economics--How long can people go without income? If unemployment jumps to 30% as some projections have indicated, will the death rate from poverty surpass the death rate of the virus?
Sociology--There will be plenty to study for years to come following this global event. How much did the suicide rate go up due to isolation? What did being home bound do to the level of domestic abuse? Based upon alcohol sales that have been reported, what impact will societal shutdown have on the rate of addictions to alcohol or other substances?
Psychology--What will be the long term psychological effects of enduring this whole mess? It isn't just the fear of the virus; it is the media hype 24 hours a day. It is the gamesmanship of the politicians. It is the experience of loss. It is the grief that accompanies that loss. All of this is occurring without any of the usual social support systems in place. Isolation has consequences.
Biology/Chemistry--What is true about the virus? What is true about the treatment possibilities? Going back to economics, who benefits from prolonging this shutdown? Who benefits financially from a vaccine?
Statistics--Speaking of truth, how are we classifying deaths today? How do we make the statistics say what we want them to say? Oh, it goes back to economics. Your organization gets more tax dollars for each death classified as a COVID 19 death. Got it. While we are on the topic of statistics, tell me more about those models used to predict the number of deaths.
Political Science--Who is connected to one another on the global stage? Whose money is influencing a particular agenda? Cast that net wide. Pay attention to the World Health Organization, the National Institute of Health, all the people getting time in front of the TV cameras, and all the lesser known entities as well. Connect the dots.
Journalism--Would it not be wonderful to have real journalists in Washington sincerely trying to reveal facts to the American people instead of their own biased political viewpoints?
Constitutional Law--If the mainstream journalists won't do their job to protect our constitutional freedoms by exposing corruption and tyranny, we better start sounding the alarms ourselves. As one meme put it, "I hope they let us out of quarantine by July 4, so we can celebrate our freedom." Look at how quickly we moved into a semi-police state. I am not over stating that. People being arrested for walking alone in a park is somewhat serious. You can't even park your car in the church parking lot without threat of being tracked and ultimately penalized. "Oh, you want people to die." That is not what I am saying. I am asking for common sense. It is not a zero sum game.
I could go on at great length and into much more detail about some of these topics. There are more content areas to add as well. All I want to do is ask one simple question today:
How much freedom are you willing to relinquish to feel safe?
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