A Moment of Reflection, A Moment of Unity

It has been months since I’ve written a blog post. With all of the chaos of today’s world, the motivation to write a post just has not been there. Last week there was a morning that I got to work super early and had some time to reflect, so I did a voice dictation of my thoughts.

So, this morning I was sitting here in the Dollar General parking lot (because this is where we park some of our work vehicles, and it is also our clinic parking lot).  It feels like a fall day today.. only 50° this morning, so I’m enjoying my warm car for a bit before I have to get out and warm up another vehicle.

I’ve got my mask sitting beside me ready to put on before I face the public for the day, and I started thinking about the very first time that I realized this coronavirus was really “a thing “.

The day was March 13, 2020. Yes, I’ve heard a lot about the coronavirus but it was on this day that it really hit me that something very strange was happening.

 My husband,son, and I we’re getting ready to head out on a weekend trip to Kansas City as I had scheduled a tour at Arrowhead Stadium where the Chiefs play and we were even going to get to tour the locker rooms. We stopped at Dollar General on the way out and it was so packed with people I was shocked. The line went out to the middle of the store and almost every single person in the line had toilet paper. I can remember saying to my husband “why is everyone buying so much toilet paper?”, and he just shrugged his shoulders. As we were standing in the line,  I heard everyone talking and soon realized this was all about the coronavirus. People were stocking up. We bought our snacks and headed out to Kansas City for the weekend.

Once we had checked into our hotel in Kansas City,  things seemed to get even weirder. News of the coronavirus was all over the television, and things just were basically a little bit surreal. We went across the street to a Denny’s restaurant to get some dinner, and we were one of the only customers in the whole restaurant. I begin to question whether or not my tour that I had scheduled was even going to happen.

I called the Chiefs offices to see if the tour was still on, because I had seen a press release from the Chiefs saying that they were sending all of their staff home to work remotely. Nobody answered the phone. After a few minutes I got a phone call back from a Chiefs representative from his home,  telling me that the tour was canceled as all of their staff have been sent home and it would be that way for at least the next two weeks.

As we all know, this lasted much more than just “two weeks “. These past few months have been frustrating, odd, surreal, and sometimes I wonder if I’m in a movie or something. Seriously. 

Many people have fought hard to try to keep things “normal “.  A large majority of us ended up working remotely for most of the summer, some are still working remotely or have lost their jobs. Businesses have gone under, holidays are not what they used to be. I don’t even know what Thanksgiving or Christmas will look like at my house. Social distancing is now a new normal, as is mask wearing.

People argue that the virus isn’t real.  People argue about whether they will wear a mask or not. People argue over anything they can argue about.  It is ludicrous.

Children were sent home for Spring Break and it was the last time they would set foot in a school building for months. Some schools have cautiously re-opened this fall, others have not. 

Turmoil surrounds us. Black Lives Matter.  Blue Lives Matter. All Lives Matter. Most people have a strong opinion on this and they are voicing it one way or another. 

There have been peaceful protests, riots, looting, tearing down prominent statues.

Child sex trafficking has come into light. Things that are unfathomable in my mind, and apparently this is just the tip of the iceberg. 

Our country is more divided than ever at a time that we need to be united. This is scary shit, people.

This is where I ended my thoughts on that morning, but I have a bit more to add.

My favorite football team, the Kansas City Chiefs, played their home opener on Thursday night. Instead of a packed house of 76,000, they only allowed 17,000 fans to accommodate social distancing. 

Many people were saying they would refuse to watch if the players knelt during the National Anthem. The opposing team chose to stay in their locker room during the anthem, but the Chiefs were on the field. They stood for the anthem, with the exception of one player. 

Following the anthem, both teams went to the middle of the field for a moment of unity. All of the players locked arms together for a moment of silence. I thought it was a beautiful thing. During the moment of SILENCE,  many in the stands were “booing”. 

 I cannot understand why they chose to “boo” two opposing teams coming together for a moment of unity. This was a moment to come together, regardless of differences, and be one. 

Call me naive, I really don’t care. I am entirely sick of the hate. I choose to focus on the moment of unity.