Rant #2,365: One Way Or the Other

Today, I am going to throw some random thoughts around about the coronavirus.

If you agree with me, fine.

If you don't agree with me, that is fine, too.

And if I open up any eyes, make you think a little bit, I guess that is fine too.

So many things are closed now, including schools. New York City schools will be closed for months, and that also includes schools in Nassau and Suffolk counties.

Kids will get their lessons online ... that is, if they have online access.

We live in a world where we assume that most people have computers, can get online, and have high-speed access to the wonder of the Internet.

The reality is that many people, of all economic ranges and characteristics, do not have access. And what about the poorer communities? Many can barely scrape up enough money to live, and the Internet is not even a remote possibility.

And then you are going to have boredom. One thing you do not want is kids being bored, because kids being bored is trouble.

It can range from, "Mom, I have nothing to do," to things that are actually against the law, so if kids aren't occupied, expect the worst.

And what about lower-economic kids who use their schools not only as learning centers, but as food pantries. Now that schools are closed, I know that the responsibility that has been foisted on schools to feed the hungry does not waver. There is some program in place to still give these unfortunate people some meals on a grab and go basis, but if supermarkets remain open, why are they even bothering?

This was brought up on Facebook the other day, the fact that those students who rely on schools to feed them come from families who are part of the SNAP program, which to you and I is and will always be the food stamps program. Why are these people relying on schools to feed them when they can use their SNAP benefits to purchase their own groceries on their own, without schools being involved?

Why, because they can't buy cigarettes with these benefits anymore? I don't get it one bit.

And about the supermarkets ... people are hoarding needed groceries by the cartload, and this should have been outlawed a few days ago.

I have been in a couple of supermarkets during the past few days, and some people are going completely overboard, buying scads of things like they are going to be living in their homes, and not leaving them, for the next six months.

It is completely stupid, and shows the mentality being spread by the media to not only warn us--and do that rightly so--but also put us into as frenzy that is unnecessary and counterproductive.

And then there are the people who have nothing to do now, are completely bored, and they are starting to become their own media source, spreading rumors that are more contagious than the coronavirus will ever be.

I got one late last night from somebody who I thought had a brain in his/her head, but someone who obviously needs to calm down. It amounted to a chain letter stating that this person has a friend who has a family member that is in the military, and that military member has inside information on this whole thing, and the service member has pronounced that the president will announce "within 24 to 72 hours" that we are all going to have to mandatory quarantine of a minimum two weeks.

"Please forward this to yoiur network" the message says.

Yes, and if I don't, will I get the cooties?

And then we have the president, who is in a situation that perhaps no president has been in, or at least since the numerous restrictions that we had to be put under by our leaders during World War II.

Some people, again with little or nothing to do, are pretty much blaming President Trump for the spread of the virus, for the slow response, for not enough test kits being available ... yes, it is the same old, same old, for these people who still cannot get it through their heads that the president beat their choice in 2016 and might do the same in 2020.

I mean, during this team of upheaval, what is the sense of doing this? Shouldn't we be standing together and trying to sock this thing (and standing together by "social distancing,"the new buzz phrase of the moment?

This virus, if we are to believe everything we heard about it, is bigger than partisan politics, it is bigger than the Democrats and Republicans, so why dump on our commander in chief like some are doing? You cannot compare this to anything else we have faced in our lives, so what sense is there for knocking somebody as if you are blaming him for the pimple you have on your nose?

So when you add all of this stuff up, we are in complete and total chaos now.

I do not know if it is warranted or not, but we need things to rally around, to make this thing something that we can wipe out collectively as human beings.

I have even chosen a rally cry them song for this effort, and it is "One Way Or the Other" by Blondie.

The lyrics are so appropriate to what is going on today that it is hard to believe that this song is more than 49 years old:

"One way or another I'm gonna find ya

I'm gonna getcha getcha getcha getcha

One way or another I'm gonna win ya

I'm gonna getcha getcha getcha getcha

One way or another I'm gonna see ya

I'm gonna meetcha meetcha meetcha meetcha

One day, maybe next week

I'm gonna meetcha, I'm gonna meetcha, I'll meetcha

I will drive past your house

And if the lights are all down

I'll see who's around ... "

That is just part of the lyrics, but I do believe that "One Way or the Other," we are going to get past this thing.

Catch up on the song at https://youtu.be/valVixMpzQY and use it as a rallying cry to get over this thing!

And what is the best remedy for such a crisis?

Laughter, of course, and on Facebook, I started a thread this weekend, posting the worst jokes that I could find, just to make us laugh for a second and take us away from our collective misery.

Here are a few examples. put up by myself and others:

"What do you call a fish with no eyes?"

Answer: A fsh.

"What does a baby computer call his father?:

Answer: Data!

"What do you give to a sick lemon to make it feel better?"

Answer: Lemon aid.

Ha Ha!

If you want to participate, look for the post on Facebook, and fire way!

Like FDR said, the biggest thing we have to fear is fear itself.

Let's do what we have to do to get past this, and if "laughter is the best medicine" and makes us feel better, then let's get those chuckles rolling!