Peace In The Margins

Let me start by giving a small disclaimer: I by no means am saying to ignore health officials and venture into the world of unsafe practices. I understand there are many in this nation – heck, in the world – who are more susceptible and vulnerable to disease of any kind, and COVID-19 is no different. If you need to self-isolate and enact social distancing, then by all means, do what is best for your situation.

Yet, here I sit, pounding away at my laptop keys, thinking heavily on the impact of the small world in which we live. Think about how far away a places like China used to feel to us – a world away. Then Vietnam happened, that’s when a war a world away infiltrated our living rooms. On the hem of Vietnam came the advent of the 24-hour news cycle and coverage of events like the Rodney King Riots, the tearing down of the Berlin Wall, and the night bombings during the Gulf War. Quickly making this “world away” feeling shrink. Next, Social Media enters center stage, and nothing has ever been the same. Instant messaging with someone a world away now occurs in real-time, and we learn that good-old Walt was right, “It’s a Small World Afterall.”

Consider this: if cellphone images and live streams had not flooded the social media platforms, would there be a critical need for toilet paper today? And oh, how the rumors fly about why America is “out of toilet paper!” Social Media creates an environment ripe for overreaction and rancid falsehoods. Thus the outcome is panic.

The truth is much less dramatic: no, not ALL the toilet paper in the world is manufactured in China, and no, there is not a shortage of this common bathroom staple. Instead, this is mass hysteria promulgated by the viral nature of social media and mainstream media, and now stores simply cannot restock fast enough. With no strong leader standing up to thwart the propelment of media enticed fear, what did you think would happen?

Here’s what it boils down to: “Modern economies run on trust and confidence. COVID-19 is breaking down that trust. People are losing confidence that they will be able to go outside and get what they need when they need it. This leads to hoarding items like toilet paper.”

When logic is superseded by emotion, all Hell breaks loose, as is evidenced by the fact that a nation of more than 327 million people has been focused on the wrong thing – toilet paper. And that is just the beginning of the trickle down effect. Moms are having to go old-school with diaper changings (yep, you guessed it, baby wipes make a great alternative to toilet paper). The elderly are having to fight the younger people for basic grocery items, and yes, toilet paper. This panic buying has created a lack of availability of hand sanitiser, bottled water, bread, paper towels (another alternative to toilet paper), and canned goods.

Americans have lost their sense of reality and have proven to the world that it wouldn’t take much to bring us to our knees. We’ve lost our sense of humanity and have kicked into a survival of the fittest mode. What happened to common decency and helping others…especially those to who have a difficult time helping themselves?

So, take a breath, inventory our real needs, take care of what we need to take care of. You see, this isn’t the first time in the history of humanity that a pandemic has struck, and guess what – we are still here. Will there be loss? Yes. Will life be uncomfortable? Possibly. But this isn’t The Stand or Station Eleven.

Humanity still has a place in this crazy world —– with or without toilet paper.

Just my personal rant,

Alicia