Dangerous time for houseplants and for humans

This is a dangerous time of year for my houseplants.

No, I am not worried that they will have the virus that’s been going around.

I am worried that I will drag them all out of the house because it is a beautiful day, only for it to turn cold.

Then I will need to drag them all back inside until the next warm day compels me to try it again.

This is also a dangerous time for people.

We are tired of being quarantined. We are tired of staying home. We are tired of not being able to get the items on our grocery lists because somebody bought all of a particular item resulting in empty shelves where the product should be.

We are tired of keeping our distance and not being allowed to be near our loved ones when  they need us most.

We worry about the ones who are deemed essential and have to show up for work every day, 

We are simply tired. 

There are people who don’t believe the virus is real.

I find this astonishing. People are dying and this isn’t real?

The amount of misinformation astounds me. I miss Walter Cronkite. If you are too young to remember him, he was a newscaster. He read the news without bias. If Walter Cronkite said it, then it was true.

None of this nonsense that something is “fake news” if it doesn’t agree with our own ideas. 

Some people are saying that other maladies take far more lives than the corona virus is expected to take. I am not sure why that should make a difference, but it does. People bemoan the lack of testing. 

But testing doesn’t provide a cure.

Testing can provide statistics but not treatment or a cure.

I asked my daughter, Beth, who is a nurse, if the treatment was different if the problem was labeled COVID-19 or if it was called something else.

She said no.

However, she also said that in her part of the world suspected cases were routed to one of two other hospitals and not to the one where she works. I think this is because the dedicated hospitals are better equipped to deal with these patients. 

 So far none of her family or friends has come down with symptoms. The worst consequence she has had to endure is that her children would rather be outside doing anything other than schoolwork. She has the utmost respect for teachers. 

In addition to policing homework, Beth has been concerned about her son, Jacob.

He was due for his follow-up MRI to find out if his brain tumor had returned.

His results were great. No new growth. We could tell that he was the same kid we know and love by the pictures his mom sent. They showed him holding a snake.

I don’t care if it was harmless, the thing was as long as Jacob was tall. He reminds me so much of when my brother, Michael, was that age. He was also a fan of critters.

In spite of all the dire predictions and near constant reports about a virus that could kill us or have no symptoms at all, there are other things going on in the world.

Many people are off work through no fault of their own. The demand for masks has spurred some people to create a  micro-industry. My daughter’s niece has started a little business making masks. She is doing quite well at it. 

So much of our lives is out of our control. We are bombarded with conflicting information constantly.

Our routines have been upended. We are doing what we can to avoid the disease that has gone around the world.

Sometimes we need to stop and realize that all the precautions we are taking are so that young boys can send pictures of themselves holding snakes.