Column like I see 'em - It’s okay to be scared, it’s not okay to be selfish and stupid
- Details
- Published on Friday, April 3, 2020
By Eoin Devereux
Neepawa Banner & Press
I’m scared... Now I know, a man of my age, who was raised on the examples of stoic 1980s action movie tough guys, isn’t supposed to admit to even having feelings, let alone feelings of fear. I am afraid and I feel absolutely no shame or embarrassment in admitting that to you. Nobody can leave their house and everybody is losing their jobs. It’s okay for me to be a little freaked out by that… and it’s okay for you to be freaked out too.
The best and the worst
The challenge we all deal with in a moment like this is how we face, and ultimately harness our fears into doing something for the betterment of society. Some of us are doing it well and some of us are not. For example, thousands of people have volunteered for helpnextdoormb.ca, the Manitoba government’s online support app. That’s a tremendous example of people seeing beyond their own needs in a time of despair.
Others, meanwhile, stockpile canned goods, toilet paper and hand sanitizer for their own selfish consumption. The hoarding of food and supplies has a domino effect on society’s most vulnerable, who are struggling to meet their needs. Not to mention, in some cases, it’s just stupid. The average person uses just 100 rolls of toilet paper in an entire year. So if you recently bought a half-dozen 24-packs of Cottonelle just to make sure you get through the month, your body is dealing with a different issue than COVID-19 and you need to eat less fibre.
Discovering what essential actually is
On a positive note, I think, as of late, we’ve all developed a brand-new appreciation for front-line service personnel. I’m not just talking about the doctors, nurses and others in the medical industry, though they are obviously to be commended.
What I’m talking about are the people we rarely thought about before this situation arose; the cashiers and shelve stockers at grocery stores, pharmacies and food service locations, whose time and energy were taken for granted until everyone needed it at once.
At this time, these front-line workers are still putting themselves at risk every day, working among hundreds of customers in a confined space, and often for little more than minimum wage. Some of us have the ability to do our job from our own home, while wearing our comfortable house pants and catching up on Netflix. Not everyone, however, has the luxury of staying as far away from people as is humanly possible. What those people are doing right now is brave and needs to be recognized.
But even then, we as a society can’t seem to work together on getting through this. I’ve heard tell of customers, local customers, still acting like ill-mannered and discourteous jerks to staff. Now is not the time to get irritated at the store and inflict your anxieties on workers with no authority to solve your problems. The sense of frustration and helplessness in their overwhelmed hourly staff is growing by the day. You complaining that they don’t have that one brand of microwavable pizza you like in stock right now doesn’t help.
We’re in this together
A certain amount of fear and chaos is unavoidable as we all try to figure out our individual responses to this new normal. We need to pause just for a second, look around and look within. It’s okay to be scared, but don’t be selfish or stupid. The responses to those feelings will dictate your actions and right now, your actions will either be part of the problem or part of the solution.
Disclaimer: Column like I see ‘em is a monthly opinion column for the Neepawa Banner & Press. The views expressed in the article are the writer’s personal views and are not to be taken as being the view of the Neepawa Banner & Press.
