Coronavirus

Toilet Paper, Hand Sanitizer, and Baby Wipes.... Oh My!

I've been wanting to write about the coronavirus for a few days now.  But didn't know how I wanted to start this discussion.  Did I want to discuss how people need to take precautions?   Did I want to discuss how fast toilet paper and hand sanitizer was sold off the shelves? Or did I want to discuss what drives people to do certain things..... FEAR!

How about a little bit of everything starting with some historical information.  For those that don't know, coronavirus isn't the first pandemic that the world has faced, SURPRISE!  That's right, this is just one more in a line of pandemics that the human race has ever gone through.

Instead of rehashing them all, let's first discuss how people need to take precautions.  First and foremost this is a virus, it is contagious.  Health care professionals are saying to wash your hands and keep everything sanitized.  Easy peasy right?  You would think so, but for some reason people have to be reminded.  Health care officials also added, do not touch your face.  Try not to congregate in large numbers.  Some states have no congregating in groups larger than 1000 to now no groups larger than 100.  Some schools and businesses are closing, some are staying open.  Around the world more people are getting sick, some recovering, some dying.  Countries are closing their borders

I went to the grocery to do my usual shopping and bought the usual staples.  I meal planned for the month, but I do that all the time.  I hate shopping so try to get most of my groceries once a month with only having to get items that I may have forgotten or run out of before I go again.  Now that you know more about my shopping habits than you probably wanted to know, let's continue.  About 1 week after going to the grocery I saw the 1st video about people fighting over toilet paper (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GVHYTdGUAZM).

When I went to Walgreens to pick up a couple of items, the first thing I noticed was a sign on the door limiting purchases of certain items:  toilet paper, hand sanitizer, and thermometers.  As I was getting my items I noticed all of the toilet paper, hand sanitizers, and baby wipes were all gone.  What I also noticed was that there was plenty of hand soap and bottled water on the shelves. 

Now lets talk about fear, people that feed on fear, and people that profit from that fear but in reverse order.

Profiting from fear:  My initial thought upon seeing the empty shelves was that people are afraid of being without toilet paper if they are quarantined.  Something that I may see as irrational is rational to them.  This is their life, their experience, their belief.  What I did find was that there are people that tried to profit and some that succeeded in profiting from that fear.  People that went and cleared out shelves in multiple stores.  Filling up U-haul trucks, and setup their stores on Amazon and Ebay and began selling some items at a markup of over 2100%  and no, I didn't forget a decimal.  People see empty shelves and the fear of not having that item sets in, they will pay to get the items because it must be important if the shelves are empty.

Feeding on that fear:  Let's empty the shelves.  Health care professionals are stating to use hand sanitizer. People are going to dollar stores, groceries, drug stores and clearing out the shelves of hand sanitizers and baby wipes.  Some people may be thinking, What's going to happen if I get quarantined with my family and I have a baby?  The fear has settled in.

Fear:  Now that I have simplified, glossed over if you will, what happens when fear sets in.  Let's discuss this thing called fear.  First and foremost, fear is a normal emotion.  Some people will state that a persons fear can sometimes be "irrational".  I'm not going to judge.  This is  my simple take on panic which I believe starts with a fear of the unknown, a fear of what may be, a fear of not being able to stop something from happening, and a fear of not being able to protect those that are under our protection, ie parents, grandparents, the children.  As with every pandemic that has ever occurred, there is conflicting information which feeds this fear.  Some questions that may occur:  Who do I believe? How do we stop the virus?  I don't want it, is my health good?  I have allergies, will I have to explain my allergies? What if I sneeze will people think that I have it? I have parents that I take care of, am I putting them at risk? I have to isolate myself because I can't trust other people are taking the same  precautions as me.  

I believe that in a lot of ways we have been programmed to fear the unknown.  If we don't have the experience in dealing with something, we need to keep it at arms length until we are better informed.  But how do we open ourselves to the information?  How do we believe what we've been told?  I feel that if you look at a thing, recognize it for what it is, acknowledge the fact that you have limited control or even no control over a thing, then fear can be minimized. In other words an acceptance of the unknown.  What we have now that the human race didn't have during other pandemics like the Black Plague is better medicine, a better understanding of the human body, and shared information across the globe. 

Taking precaution is helpful not just for yourself but for others.  Thinking that you have super powers or that it won't happen to you is just another risk that isn't needed or warranted.  Understanding the information that is out there is key.  Ask the questions that are bubbling inside instead of thinking you know all the answers already.  Do your own research if you are capable.  Once again that is something that our ancestors didn't have.  We have so much at our fingertips that they didn't.  Make sure that the websites you are getting your information from are credible.  Stores will restock, don't pay exorbitant amounts of money on items out of that fear.  Make sure that the precautions that the health care professionals are stating are followed.  Wash your hands, sanitize items before touching them, and don't put your hands on your face.

For your own mental well-being,  talk to your friends and family it doesn't have to be in person but can be by phone and/or on social media.  Don't completely isolate yourself,  fear can also be your own worse enemy.

What I have written above is just my belief.  I do wish and pray that everyone is safe both mentally and physically.

Proven Innocent

I have been watching a few True Crime documentaries.  I don't know if any of you are into watching these but some of them are really good.  I will caution, please do your own research and don't depend just on the documentaries themselves as factual, some discrepancies can occur.  Now enough said on that front, on to the show.

One documentary that I watched is called the Long Shot, and is on Netflix, if you keep reading there are SPOILERS.

It is about a man that was arrested and accused of murdering a 16 year old girl that had testified against a gang in which his brother was a member.

He claimed his innocence, said he was at a Dodgers game with his daughter.  His daughter testified that they were at a Dodgers game, they were able to prove that he was there at 9:45pm.  The problem is that the deceased was killed around 10:40pm. 

By a series of unique circumstances his attorney was able to prove that he was indeed at the Dodgers game.

How was  is innocence was proven?  A camera crew was filming a tv series that particular night.  They just happened to be assigned to seats down from the defendant.  When he took his daughter to get candy the camera crew happened to let him through even though they were filming.  His girlfriend called his cellphone which they were able to get the ping from a tower that was a mile from the stadium, no where near where the murder took place.

Listening to his story, which the documentary is only about 40 minutes, you hear the anguish in his voice, you see it on his face.  I like to call it the "what if" scenarios.  The documentary even talks about them.  What if he hadn't gone to the game?  What if the tv show hadn't filmed in his section of the stadium?  What if his girlfriend hadn't called to see what time they would be home? 

We hear a lot about people being found innocent after they have spent years in prison. Some have been freed after spending over 30 years in prison.  Most have been found innocent after DNA testing came onto the scene.  They didn't have their "what if" moments, or did they?  Do they spend those years thinking about "What if I had taken a different way home?", "what if I had done......?"

We hear about the person being "guilty in the court of public opinion".  What happens when the person is innocent?  As a society we are likely to judge based on our experiences, what we have been taught.  How can we put that aside?

I have been on a jury.  I have sat and listened to the evidence presented.  And yes, I have argued "beyond a reasonable doubt" with other jurors, who even though there was a lack of evidence presented, a severe lack, they wanted to vote guilty.  My undergraduate degree, Political Science, and at one point in my life I wanted to attend Law School. 

It's hard to take yourself, your personal experiences, out of the equation.  The way I look at the situation is that everyone deserves a fair hearing.  If I was accused of a crime, that I didn't commit, I would want the jury to not already think me guilty before they even hear the evidence.  Just because the crime was so horrific that they feel that someone, anyone needs to pay. Make sure that you believe the person is guilty, beyond a reasonable doubt.

Until next time!