Retirees and common experiences: Pandemic

[leadfoot4]

Originally Posted by ansible90

I find it helpful to go for a walk every day, or sit outside when it is nice. I get my people fix while walking because others are also out there so we stop to chat. Everyone is careful to keep their distance but we do have people contact.

We do that, too, but the "double whammy" aspect of this quarantine is that we just emerged from a cold, harsh winter, which kept us indoors for the previous 4 months, and now this....plus the "April showers" are currently falling on us, so that, too, is limiting our ability to get outdoors.

However, I've had the time to get my two lawn mowers are all serviced, and ready to go, and I even have the snowblower maintenance taken care of, for next winter.....

[ansible90]

Originally Posted by leadfoot4

We do that, too, but the "double whammy" aspect of this quarantine is that we just emerged from a cold, harsh winter, which kept us indoors for the previous 4 months, and now this....plus the "April showers" are currently falling on us, so that, too, is limiting our ability to get outdoors.

However, I've had the time to get my two lawn mowers are all serviced, and ready to go, and I even have the snowblower maintenance taken care of, for next winter.....

I see you are in NYS. I am in VT, so similar climate. The daffodils and tulips will be blooming soon and other plants have sprouted too. I enjoy watching the garden's progress every day. Spring keeps me hopeful.

[jertheber]

The Op outlined what he had thought of as some common experiences of American's in the past, but even those events didn't really bring this country to any feeling of neighborly love nor did they present as an experience shared by all. The government was rationing gas and other products during the second world war, hoarders, thieves, and black market types were common, not a lot of solidarity, but a ton of jealousy and complaining, just like today. Many men were working and going home every night to family while others were being brutalized and killed in the war.

Some here are pointing out that our experiences are definitely NOT the same, talk of mental health issues, suicide, window jumpers, and a host of other observations which make me wonder about some of the CD posters and just what is happening that would elicit such comments. I remember going broke in the economic recession of the late sixties, but not everyone was in the same boat, some were working right through that time and never missed a day's work while others were losing their homes and wondering what was coming in the near future.

This shutdown definitely hasn't touched everyone in the same way, and I realize that some are angry and upset at the thought that this ISN'T a shared experience, at least when we consider the fact that some are working and sailing along while others are already in financial dire straits. In that 1969-1975 time period, many here in the Pacific NW were struggling to get back on their feet from the crash of 1970, it took years to recover from that debacle.

These days will be remembered in the same vein, a time of loss, loss of life, loss of money, friends, jobs, careers, homes, but, certainly not everyone will suffer that level of loss. So, when this virus has mutated to a lesser threat, or we find ways to ameliorate the worst of it's effects, we will be looking at each other in a comparison view, and those feelings of deep despair will be juxtaposed against others feelings of celebration over their good fortune. Thinking people will be focused on the future and the how's of the task of re opening all businesses, but some will insist on wallowing in their present misery, and all the while politicizing every turn of events.

[amil23]

This virus thing is a common experience to me. I'm still lucky enough to have a job at 68 and believe me, I am grateful. But there are so many who were only scratching out enough to make it who are now out of work. I feel really sorry for them. Anyway, our common experience with this doesn't have to mean we all think and act the same right, and we have more or less been forced to submit to a common theme for recovery so I think yes we are sharing a common experience. I only hope it motivates many to think and plan for their lives and livelihoods when another one of these comes along by having saved for expenses as TheShadow pointed out above. It must be quite a shocker to hum pleasantly along thinking everything is and will be fine and then have the rug pulled out like this. Being a kid of Depression parents and grandparents, I and my brothers/sisters/cousins heard a lot about self-reliance and thankfully so. I've always subscribed to the old saw that "optimism is a form of insanity".