06-28-2020, 08:35 PM
(This post was last modified: 06-28-2020, 08:43 PM by NightskyeB4Dawn.)
I guess this should be titled "Report From My Real World".
Just a little fill in for those that don't know, I live in a small area considered the backwoods, in a fairly close community. That does not mean we know and love each, or that we sit around the fire pit singing Kumbya. We have more than our share of jackasses, bigots, and "hold my beer" types. But we get along most of the time, and we tolerate each other, the best we can.
Crazy thing about most country folk, is that they don't have to like you to do right by you. That neighbor that killed your dog for straying onto his property, and may have not have said a single word to you in ten years, will be the first one to your rescue if you need help or are in danger. So I was not surprised by what I saw when I took my mother to the local market today.
My mother asked me to take her to the market because it is Sunday, she is bored, and she wanted to make something different for dinner. I knew the real reason was because Sunday is her normal day for socializing, and since Sunday services are still not being held in her church, she missed being around people. I gave up a long time ago trying to tell my mother what I thought was best for her. She is as stubborn as they come. She is of sound mind. I trust her decisions to be what she wants, and what she thinks is best for her, so my only response was, "what time to you want to go"?
Let me add, before I get to he meat and potatoes of the post, that my family is one of those families where people are strangers only for a hot minute. I am terrible about picking at people. I am the oldest of ten children, it is ingrained it me. Whether I know you or not, if I am in earshot of you, I am going to speak. The simple "Hello", more times than not, will turn into a five minute conversation and it will magically spread until everyone in visual distance will be participating in the conversation, that in short order, will also have everyone laughing. My mother is the same way.
Okay so to get back on topic. I had not been out shopping in a very long time so I was impressed by how they had set the place up with people managing the carts, cleaning and handing them to you. A big sign requesting all wear a mask, very tastefully done, funny, and not offensive in any way. Direction arrows for traffic. Not bad for a country store. That is when I started paying attention to the customers.
People shopped exactly the way they always did. It didn't seem anyone was paying attention to the arrows. People were just as responsive to my silly banter, just as quick to laugh and joke, and just as friendly. I would say about 80% of the people wore mask, as requested by the sign, and no one seemed to notice those that chose not to wear them.
I saw people of different skin tones, even heard some foreign accents. No one seemed angry, offended, afraid, or unsociable. In other words I did not see anything different from any other time before COVID, other than some signs, and a lot of masks.
Why this long post to say that one simple thing? Because we are not those people that are constantly being promoted on the internet and by the media. It is because we are not the people they are forcing us to believe we are, and that behavior we find repugnant, is not normal. It is not who we are, it is not who our neighbors are.
I write this post as a reminder, maybe as a challenge, or even a request, that we reject the lies, the programming, of the virtual world, and accept and embrace our real world, not as just luck, unique, or only for the fortunate or the special, but as the true normal. There are people that are unfortunate, that have less, and are victims of the ills of our society. And yes we do have to do what we can to fix that, but we don't fix it by spreading and becoming what we already know is broken.
We will all never agree on everything, and it goes way beyond mask or no mask. The world is constantly changing and there will be challenges. What we can't lose is our humanity in the process. We can't lose our respect for each other, and we can't lose our tolerance for our differences. It has served us well throughout the ages and history shows us what happens when we are divided. We don't have to follow the Pied Piper off the cliff. We can be really good at being angry and defiant. We just have to turn our anger and defiance in the right direction.
Of course, this is just my opinion.
Just a little fill in for those that don't know, I live in a small area considered the backwoods, in a fairly close community. That does not mean we know and love each, or that we sit around the fire pit singing Kumbya. We have more than our share of jackasses, bigots, and "hold my beer" types. But we get along most of the time, and we tolerate each other, the best we can.
Crazy thing about most country folk, is that they don't have to like you to do right by you. That neighbor that killed your dog for straying onto his property, and may have not have said a single word to you in ten years, will be the first one to your rescue if you need help or are in danger. So I was not surprised by what I saw when I took my mother to the local market today.
My mother asked me to take her to the market because it is Sunday, she is bored, and she wanted to make something different for dinner. I knew the real reason was because Sunday is her normal day for socializing, and since Sunday services are still not being held in her church, she missed being around people. I gave up a long time ago trying to tell my mother what I thought was best for her. She is as stubborn as they come. She is of sound mind. I trust her decisions to be what she wants, and what she thinks is best for her, so my only response was, "what time to you want to go"?
Let me add, before I get to he meat and potatoes of the post, that my family is one of those families where people are strangers only for a hot minute. I am terrible about picking at people. I am the oldest of ten children, it is ingrained it me. Whether I know you or not, if I am in earshot of you, I am going to speak. The simple "Hello", more times than not, will turn into a five minute conversation and it will magically spread until everyone in visual distance will be participating in the conversation, that in short order, will also have everyone laughing. My mother is the same way.
Okay so to get back on topic. I had not been out shopping in a very long time so I was impressed by how they had set the place up with people managing the carts, cleaning and handing them to you. A big sign requesting all wear a mask, very tastefully done, funny, and not offensive in any way. Direction arrows for traffic. Not bad for a country store. That is when I started paying attention to the customers.
People shopped exactly the way they always did. It didn't seem anyone was paying attention to the arrows. People were just as responsive to my silly banter, just as quick to laugh and joke, and just as friendly. I would say about 80% of the people wore mask, as requested by the sign, and no one seemed to notice those that chose not to wear them.
I saw people of different skin tones, even heard some foreign accents. No one seemed angry, offended, afraid, or unsociable. In other words I did not see anything different from any other time before COVID, other than some signs, and a lot of masks.
Why this long post to say that one simple thing? Because we are not those people that are constantly being promoted on the internet and by the media. It is because we are not the people they are forcing us to believe we are, and that behavior we find repugnant, is not normal. It is not who we are, it is not who our neighbors are.
I write this post as a reminder, maybe as a challenge, or even a request, that we reject the lies, the programming, of the virtual world, and accept and embrace our real world, not as just luck, unique, or only for the fortunate or the special, but as the true normal. There are people that are unfortunate, that have less, and are victims of the ills of our society. And yes we do have to do what we can to fix that, but we don't fix it by spreading and becoming what we already know is broken.
We will all never agree on everything, and it goes way beyond mask or no mask. The world is constantly changing and there will be challenges. What we can't lose is our humanity in the process. We can't lose our respect for each other, and we can't lose our tolerance for our differences. It has served us well throughout the ages and history shows us what happens when we are divided. We don't have to follow the Pied Piper off the cliff. We can be really good at being angry and defiant. We just have to turn our anger and defiance in the right direction.
Of course, this is just my opinion.