Pandemic... What have we learned?
---Okay, the coronavirus has certainly taught us some interesting things about our American people. We learned that they will panic buy a product that they see others panic buying just because they see others panic buying.
---Let's look at toilet paper for example. For some reason, people started stock piling it in their homes. The only thing that might have influenced them was seeing others doing the same. There is no real tie into the virus that I can see. My wife and I decided that we could understand if they had chosen Kleenex or other tissues as the focus of their hoarding. Nothing about the coronavirus has ever had anything to do with being stuck on the toilet producing endless amounts of poop.
---Hand sanitizer I kind of understand. We were being told to wash our hands a lot. You can't always access soap and water when you are out and about. Still, I don't understand the frapping morons who were buying it by the case before the restrictions came. I mean, come on! How much do you really need? I have one bottle of it in my camper that I use after dumping the poop out. It has lasted me almost eight years.
---At our house, we haven't had any real issues getting the things we need. Sure, there was a shortage of eggs for a while. I just switched to Egg Beaters, which we always have several cartons of in the house. Meat was another similar thing. We couldn't always get the meat we wanted. But, we had a LOT of meat in the freezer that we were able to turn to.
---One of my main foods is a brand of wraps that I can only buy at Walmart. Whenever my wife or I go to Walmart, we always buy about ten packages. By the time I got to the last couple of packages, they were available again. No problem. In fact, she came home with about ten packages yesterday.
---As far as other "necessities" as my mother would have called them, we are okay. My wife is a sale shopper. If toothpaste is on sale at a good price, she buys several of them. We have a large bathroom closet full of deodorant, shampoo, toothpaste, cleaning products, soap, lotions, cold medicine, vitamins, Drano, toilet paper, razor blades, etc. We could probably last a year before we started panicking about that kind of stuff.
---I wasn't worried about food either. Way back in January, I was reading about the virus. I decided then to start getting some "non perishable" food on hand. I ordered the instant meals that I use when camping, knowing I would be able to use them later anyway. I ordered cases of soup because I like it, and it is easy to make meals with. Altogether, I had about 75 meals for each person in the house ready to go. I knew that we would survive even if we only ate one meal a day in an emergency. If after 75 days there still was no available food, well we tried.
---So, as far as food and supplies, we have come through this pretty much unscaithed. I even bought a large bag of dog food the day before the stay at home orders. But, don't think we didn't suffer any losses. Financially, we took a huge hit.
---We have never been rich. We did inherit some money from my dad and my wife's mother when they died. Unlike a lot of my friends, we didn't run out and spend any of it. Instead, we hired a financial advisor who grew our fortune for us. Unfortunately, with the negative effects on the market due to the virus, we have lost over $80,000 dollars. You know what? I don't even care. The market will come back eventually, and we will regain those losses. But, there are millions of Americans out there who didn't even have that much to lose. Many people have lost their jobs, or have seen significant salary reductions.
---My biggest complaint in all of this has been that my favorite activities have been taken away. I can't go camping or do volunteer work for the Master Naturalists. That kind of pales in comparison to the things others can't do like pay their rent or feed their children. The impacts of this situation are different for all of us. I have learned that we are not all as prepared for a disaster. I have learned that we will not all survive a disaster. I have learned that we will all suffer different outcomes in a disaster. I have learned that we must support others who are not as resilient in the disaster as we are.
---I am waiting to see how America rebounds from this. Will those of us who come through it okay just go on with our lives. Or, will we finally admit that things are not so perfect in this land of ours and lend a hand to those who are hurting? I hope I become a good guy. I hope I do everything I can to help others survive this pandemic caused disaster.