2020 lost?

This week has made me reflect on why people are so resistant two following a simple rule: stay home if you can.

Apparently, people are closing down their businesses due to financial situations, therefore; the government has decided that shops can reopen and malls too. However; there must be a control on how many people can be at the shop at the same time. It seems that no more than three at a time, which means lining up outside to wait to go inside.

This morning I saw a picture of one of the most popular shopping streets here in São Paulo and perhaps there were two or three shoppers in each shop at the same time, but the street was overcrowded with people. The two-meter distance was not being kept. The lines were so long that one shop line just mixed into the other. It doesn't make any sense to me why these people were risking their lives being there like a bunch of sardines in a can.

Judgment is not ours to be done, and for me, I'm not judging these people, I'm just trying to understand what makes the person go there now to shop. I understand the argument that if you can go to a drugstore or supermarket you can also go to a shop buy shoes or clothing or any other gadget that you may want. But is it a necessity?

I started to analyze the situation, for example, my favorite clothing store has been calling me up and sending me messages that they have reopened taking all the precautions. I can also schedule a visit because they´re having a sale of 75% or more on everything just to lure customers to the store. One day my favorite attendant called me and filled me in and what was happening. My answer was that I appreciated her call however I was not leaving my house. Besides, I really did not need any new clothes the purchase that I made before the pandemic still had the price tags on. Nonetheless, I do realize that they are in dire straits, but why would I buy something that I do not need at the moment?

Many people have been doing their best to recuperate their financial situation, for example, there have been some musical shows where you can buy tickets for or theater plays that you can buy tickets for and then watch it online. It's like going out and enjoying your time without leaving the house and also helping those who depend on an audience to go see what they do for a living, especially those behind stage who have no way of recording commercials; participating in talk shows or making money out of some product that's on the market.

However, if you're stuck at home, I mean, if you're safe at home, why go out if you do not need to?

Yesterday, the church that I go to announced that they will be having services again towards the end of June, however, they can only admit 30% of the church goers to attend the service. Therefore; you need to call and sign up for the service that you want. This church can only allow 142 people to attend at a time, so they have decided to have two services on Sunday morning. As soon as the 142 seats are taken, they will open the list of people who can attend the next service with a 15-minute break in between. Masks are a must. There will be hand sanitizers available also special rugs to clean your shoes and somebody taking people´s temperatures. Now, I kind of questioned the announcement because up until now we were having services online and perhaps more people were attending those services online then actually the people who go to the church. But my question was who was going to clean and sanitize the place in between services because those 15 minutes between one service and another will be for people to leave and to enter. I believe there's still going to be a crowd at the door.  I am afraid that the plan was not well thought out. Perhaps what they could do is have a service on Saturday too. That way those who like to attend the service can choose which day they would like to go to. Mind you, the pastor and his wife have caught the virus and they are not sure how, but I do have my suspicions because he has not been totally isolated in his house. I am just praying that he recovers.

So many things are going on at the same time and we are living in a new structure. We have been learning so much on how to give importance two small things and to the people that matter in our lives.

A student asked me if I thought this year had been cancelled or lost. My answer was simply no. Every year we learn new things and we go through different emotions and experiences and that is what is happening now, too. Perhaps the way of doing things have changed; some of them for the better; some of them not, but as the saying goes living and learning. We learn with our success and we learn with our failure, so now is the chance to learn and experience things that we have taken for granted.

Written: June 12, 2020

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