All aboard — if you want to end this sooner

 

We shut down one stage of our lives last week and now await what The Lord and the future have in store for us.

Totally obeying President Trump’s order to “stay at home,” my wife and I were doing just that. One morning during his daily address it became clear to my wife Bev that we may all be “ordered” to stay in our homes and that could come soon.

With the need to clear out and shut down my apartment in Minneota, where I’d worked for nearly 12 years, we decided to take our truck and my car, clean up the apartment and move everything out.

We were in for some surprises.

As we tried to stay six feet from anyone, as has been suggested, and as we tried to hurry and get the job done, we began to discover some, or many of the people of this small town seemed to think they were on an island all by themselves. You know, nothing gets in, nothing gets out.

One fellow told me, “I’m not a bit worried about it. We don’t have one single reported case (Coronavirus) in the county where I live (Lincoln County) or in this county (Lyon County, where Minneota is located).

It appeared the only business in town that was closed was the local restaurant and bar — and that was because of a state mandate.

A retailer in town was doing business as normal and said, “I’m staying open until they demand I shut down.”

People tried to greet me the old-fashioned way, with a handshake. Some tried to get close to us without thinking about the whole virus thing.

As much as I love that community, we couldn’t wait to get out of there. We left the island and probably won’t be back until this whole thing is over.

After cleaning the apartment my wife turned to me with a large can of Lysol spray in her hand and gave it to me. “Take care of this, it’s GOLD,” she said.

I removed the final roll of toilet paper from the apartment and handed it to her, saying, “This is GOLD, too!”

While others are in a panic for Lysol and antiseptic sprays, hand cleaners, toilet paper and the like, we have little worry. My wife always was big on that stuff and we not only had a lot of it at the apartment but at our Grantsburg home as well. She’d even stockpiled those precious rolls of toilet paper.

I’m grateful for the fact our children have kept close tabs on us, and because we are in the age group that makes us more vulnerable, they keep urging us to stay home.

A daughter is particularly insistent and calls every day to make sure we are heeding her orders.

As you’ve discovered, what we’re undertaking is a huge challenge. We’ve not only changed our lifestyles but embarked on a new way of life and we just can’t know how long it will last.

When it began we didn’t know we’d be staying home with our spouses (all the time). Now that can be challenging.

We didn’t know we’d have to attend church in our own living rooms, listening to our pastor on the radio or through our computer, smartphone or another device.

We didn’t know we’d be challenged to purchase food as quickly as we could, without visiting with our neighbors or strolling too close to others.

We didn’t know the kids would be home every day, without school — and that many of us would be right there with them, trying to work at our jobs.

We didn’t know one of the routines we’d adopt is listening to the daily reports from President Trump on the current status of the Coronavirus and what the federal government is doing about it.

We didn’t know we’d also get several reports each week from the governors of our states.

And more and more of these things come up every day.

Through it all, a few things have become apparent.

1. We may be in this for the long haul — so we need to develop a lifestyle that’s both safe and as enjoyable as possible.
2. We need to find ways to help others get through this — even if it’s done on the cellphone or computer.
3. Those who can find a way should find ways to volunteer (one good way to do this is at thethewearenetwork.com).

But most of all, we need to understand this ONE BASIC FACT:

The government and health officials can’t do this alone. They need our help. When they say STAY HOME, we need to STAY HOME.

I watched TV in horror as hundreds, maybe thousands of young people gathered on the beaches in Florida to celebrate the school break. It was hard to believe they totally disregarded the Coronavirus problem. One celebrator said, “Hey, it’s my life.”

But my thought was, “Yeah, yours, your grandparents, your parents, your siblings, and many others … and you’re putting them all at risk.”

Then there were the photos of people strolling through Washington and other places, in large groups, looking at the Cherry Blossoms.

Hey, I know this difficult. But we are facing an enemy that sneaks up on us and zaps us before we know it. We need to act as though we care if we live or die.

But amidst all of the turmoil and disregard for safety, we have also seen unselfish, giving people who care for others.

I have a friend who is still working, yet found time to go to another friend’s home who had been hurt in an accident and my friend learned how to help our other friend with the brace he’s wearing. And the friend stayed overnight to be with him.

We will get through this. But we’ll get through it a lot better with that kind of person helping out, rather than the kind who put others at risk.
If you want this to end sooner, rather than later, and in a positive manner, “Get aboard and do your part. We all need to help”.