Since Memorial Day, my friend Janet and I have asked ourselves the flippant question, “Are we Yahoos?”
We are haunted by scenes on the the news of an outlandishly crowded pool party in Missouri and hordes cavorting on beaches in Florida, with no semblance of social distancing.
“Oh my God–it’s the Yahoos!” we exclaimed.
The dictionary defines yahoos as “an imaginary race of of brutish beings in Swift’s Gulliver’s Travels.” It is, in my imaginary dictionary, the cry inspired by the “reopening” of the beaches. The cry “Yahoo! Yahoo!” is reminiscent of “Thalassa! Thalassa!”
Actually it is more like Carpe diem, but Horace didn’t intend for us to seize the day by throwing a coronavirus party.
Mind you, it is difficult not to be a yahoo. We are used to having everything, and having it now. Live-streaming, same-day delivery, multi-tasking, Alexa, the State Fair, designer tacos from the premier taco stand, jazz festivals, the latest Wonder Woman movie, and beach vacations.
Patience is no longer a virtue. It’s been three months…in the scheme of things, not that long.
It is a very good idea to keep your social distance.
So stay home, stay safe, and ignore the politicians.
Last weekend there were, apparently, ten thousand people in a large downtown park, so the pictures looked more like the grounds of an outdoor rock concert than a greenspace, on the first exceptionally nice warm Saturday in Toronto. This while our provincial caseload had begun to climb again after the first stages of reopening (rumours flying that they might have to reverse course, but instead they simply did not progress). Originally I’d been looking forward to the idea of some restrictions lifting or easing, but now I am becoming even more stringent with practices than I had been previously. Elsewhere you mentioned that more people were adopting your wider-than-six-feet perimeter these days, which was true here, too, for a time, but now it’s more more common that people are openly angry or dismissive about efforts to maintain even the minimum distance. It’s a challenge. Balance, balance, balance.
It seems to be impossible for people to keep in mind the seriousness of the virus. No one can focus on trauma for too long, I guess. But these gatherings could be tragic. The problem is when they get the go-ahead from politicians EVERYONE seems to go mad. Even those who have observed social distance are ready to believe it’s okay to get out and go. It’s a pity so many are opening up so soon. Here many businesses are not open though they have the go-ahead. Somebody has to protect the people!!