We’ve learned a lot from pandemic

More things we’ve learned during the coronavirus pandemic:

•Idleness is exhausting. There’s something very tiring about a long, gloomy, chilly afternoon with nothing to do. You know you ought to be doing something constructive, but the very thought wears you out.

•It’s easy to get cranky about social distancing. Employees here will tell you that I’ve barked about 6-foot distancing on numerous occasions. “Six feet!” I’ll bellow.

•It’s easy to forget about social distancing. Sometimes I’m the person who ought to be yelled at to keep my distance.

•If most are wearing masks, those who aren’t wearing masks look sheepish and a little guilty.

•If most aren’t wearing masks, those folks who aren’t can be smugly dismissive of those of us who are.

•It’s hard to keep your glasses from fogging up while masked.

•Somehow it has become acceptable in certain quarters to carry an assault rifle into a state capitol building. Energetic ignorance never seems to go out of style.

•Reopening is more complicated than locking down. It’s easier to stop an activity or a business than it is to get it going again.

•The smell of hand sanitizer can make you sneeze, which is completely counterproductive.

•Window visits with an old friend or a family member in a nursing home are not a satisfactory substitute for the real thing.

•Honking your horn turns out to be a pretty good way to communicate “happy birthday” to a friend.

•Public officials are often forced to make decisions that make absolutely nobody happy. That’s true whether you are a county commissioner or a governor. Gov. Eric Holcomb of Indiana and Gov. Mike DeWine of Ohio have had to deal with far more than they ever bargained for. Sometimes, they’ve gotten it right. Sometimes, they’ve gotten it wrong. But in either case, they were having to make decisions that none of the rest of us would like to face.

•No one has yet figured out how to go to a restaurant while wearing a mask and eat without making a mess. Masks and food do not go together.

•People are making the most of a difficult situation. The CR has been inundated with photos of families and kids filling the empty hours of stay-at-home time. And they’ve all brought a smile.

•Be wary of those making predictions. The economy will bounce back? Let’s wait and see. Three thousand deaths a day? I hope not, but I’m not going to accept a prediction as gospel. Then again, a pandemic of this scope has been predicted for years. And it’s one forecast that turned out to be true.

•Creativity matters. That’s true whether it’s Jay Schools figuring out how to provide tens of thousands of meals to students when classes have been canceled or it’s someone rummaging through a bunch of old fabric to find the cloth needed to make more masks.

•Hugs matter. They’re a precious commodity, and it’s safe to say they have been missed.