I was reading an online article last night and thinking back to the time we lived in Tokyo. In Japan, China and other oriental countries, the wearing of a face mask is the polite and sensitive thing to do. Although it is recognized that the wearing of such a mask doesn't often stop bacteria and viruses from being transmitted, it is the proper way to let the people around you know that you are suffering from some kind of respiratory illness that could be contagious. It gives the folks around you the option to stand well back of you if they want to. It is a sign, an alert, a socially responsible thing to do if you have to be out and about when not feeling well. To go out into the public realm without that mask brings confrontation for your insensitivity and mockery for lack of social consciousness.
Here in Canada it seems to be culturally the opposite! When people whose culture encourages and often enforces the wearing of face masks when suffering illness come to Canada they too often get a response very different than the one they are used to in their home countries. I have seen and heard the response with my own eyes and ears in the past two weeks in banks and grocery stores and even on the street. The response is either mockery that "These foreigners are too stupid to know that wearing a mask will not prevent the spread of COVID-19!" or direct confrontation: "How dare you buy up all the masks our hospital and other care workers need to do their jobs safely?? HOW DARE YOU???" These are both direct quotes. They both made me feel ill when I heard them being uttered. As I noted in the previous paragraph, the "foreigners"wearing the masks are not stupid, they are attempting to be polite and sensitive. As far as buying masks our care workers need instead, I am fairly certain the masks they are wearing came to Canada with them from their home land and likely several years ago when they first came to our country. The ones I wore this week when I went out to shop are left over from a package I purchased in Japan nearly TWENTY YEARS AGO!!! So, I dare anyone to publicly accuse me of stealing masks from our overworked nurses and doctors!
So to wear or not wear the masks...which is it?
We as consumers are getting quite a mixed message:
1. Make certain you have enough food and supplies for a 14 day quarantine period.
2. Don't hoard groceries, there is lots of food in the warehouses to be trucked in.
So which is it?
It seems the majority of people who shop in my neighbourhood have taken position #1. In the grocery stores where I shop most often there have been no eggs, flour, sugar or butter since last weekend. Hand sanitizer and toilet paper were sold out long before the weekend and the supplies have either not been replenished yet or else there was another run on the new supplies and I missed out by the time I got to the stores.
In my neighbourhood Shoppers Drug Mart tiny grocery section yesterday there was one middle aged woman filling her cart in the canned goods department. She literally put every single tin of soup, vegetables and premade meals like canned stew into her own cart. Within 30 seconds she had personally stripped the shelves bare of all canned foods. I thought that the clerk at the cash register would enforce the new rules about how much of any one product you are allowed to purchase but that didn't happen. So, nearly three hundred dollars in canned goods later, the woman exited, leaving four empty shelves in her wake and taking more food than any one person needs for a two week time period. She was quite pleased with herself, announcing loudly that SHE wasn't going to starve to death and tough %#@%## for everyone else. It was disgusting and also disturbing. I have seen little evidence in the shopping habits around here that would indicate people are willing to sacrifice for or even work together with others in the same situation that faces us all. Fear is a strong motivator toward selfish behaviour and we all struggle with it at different times and in different circumstances.
Our son is seeing the last of his work and pay cheques now. He was supposed to go to work this coming Sunday for a full day's pay, but he just phoned to say that Sunday is the day that "shelter-in-place" legislation will be imposed upon NYC. This afternoon he and his girlfriend are heading out to the bustling markets to try to get some more food into both their places of residence so they can eat properly and stay safe over the coming weeks. He is certainly dreading the separation, as is she. At least his roommates will still be around his building, while her roommate has gone to Long Island to be with her family. We are praying that all of them will be safe from the virus and that no losses of life will occur in their community of artists. Our son is preparing to restore his old social activist stance to see how he can help advocate for the artistic and other communities who will suffer great financial blows and long term losses in the next couple of months.
Shelter-in-place.
Go out for groceries and pay your bills because there is not yet a programme in place to limit buying or enforce delayed paying of rents and utility bills.
Again, which is it??
The world is a confusing place right now.
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