Posted on 10/17/2020 9:23:04 AM PDT by CheshireTheCat
As I write this essay, I don’t even know if I’m going to post it. I only know my heart is aching and I can’t make the pain go away. It’s one thing to know that Americans are suffering due to their fear of Covid-19 and the propaganda that has been promoted throughout this country; it’s another to see a friend suffering from a fear that she is unwilling or unable to overcome.
I have known this woman for more than ten years. She is a Leftie. We learned a long time ago that there is no point in discussing politics. She is smart and sweet and is a down-to-earth person in so many ways. She developed a wonderful program to help children learn to read by bringing dogs into the learning process. And she’s been a good friend.
Since she’s a snowbird and currently living in Chicago, we’ve been practicing a physical movement series together through What’s App. Abiding by our original understanding, we haven’t discussed politics or Covid-19. But today, for me, something cracked open.
She is returning to Florida in a couple of weeks and asked me an odd question: was there a way to check on the internet at any given time whether emergency rooms and/or ICU beds were open at a hospital? I had to ask her to explain what she was asking, and then her query became clearer: if she had to be hospitalized with Covid-19, could she check which hospitals had space?
My brain felt as if it had been flooded by a dense fog. I then dipped into dangerous territory and asked her if she was getting news on the virus from any place other than MSNBC or CNN. She didn’t answer. I told her that nationally, the percentage of deaths was going down. She responded that wasn’t true. (I suspect she was thinking of the number of cases.) Then she said that North Dakota and Wisconsin, where she has family, were in bad shape, and I asked her what she meant. She said that five students had caught the virus and they were shutting down the school. I then buried myself when I asked if anyone had died. She flippantly answered that she didn’t think so. At that moment, I knew I had misstepped.
I quickly suggested that we not go there in the conversation. She agreed and we moved on to our practice. I had a difficult time concentrating, and although we were cordial when we finished, I felt the small crack that had emerged between us.
So, I’m stumbling under a swirl of emotions: disbelief, anger, sorrow. I know that part of my resistance to her state is my own frustration with dealing with the victimization of others. How can a person choose to be a victim? How can a person who is technologically adept not use her skills to get to the truth? How can a person who is naturally curious insist on wearing dark glasses rather than walking into the light?
I know. I know. People like her are everywhere. They choose suffering over information. They prefer living with the worst-case scenario rather than embracing possibility.
And there is nothing I can do to help—help her or anyone else.
“publications like the Washington Post have started to take a sick pleasure in highlighting the Covid neuroses which they themselves have inspired with their coverage.”
Compost is owned by Amazon which benefits immensely from shutdown and fear.
It’s a racket.
Exactly.
Look at how many women marry drunks or wife beaters so they can carry their misery on their sleeve for all to see.....and pity them.
They justify their marriage and cultivate the pity by claiming they thought they could change him.
Just this week, I had a very interesting conversation with a young lady who has become upper level management in her company.
I remarked to her that picking the right people for the job was for me the biggest challenge faced
And she said “I can teach people to do their job, but I can't change their personality.”
That single statement provides the key to most of the world's problems.
We have great actors, doctors, financial wizards, athletes, etc., that are world champions at their skills but have a personality defect or character defect (which is one of the things that make up personality) that makes them insufferable black sheep.
There used to be a lot of us there. The others may just be hiding.
ML/NJ
I don’t think this is hokey at all. I think it is definitely worth a try and is probably the right approach with certain people. Thank you.
I might add to it asking them if they considered if making people fearful benefits certain people.
I know lots of people that are in the same boat as your friend. They would rather live in fear than see any positive scenario. Any good news about the virus is always shut down, they don’t want to hear it. I don’t understand it.
I have a little flyer thing I give out to servers that I put their tip in.
The Senior pastor at my parents church was hospitalized, suspected Kung Flu. Turns out no, all the tests were negative. What he has is pneumonia. Ok, still deadly but now they know what to treat so good deal. Except, when they moved him from the small local hospital to the big city hospital they put him in the area with the Kung Flu patients.
Can anyone explain this in any way that does not include the concept that they are trying to infect him? Could it be that cold? Is it possible that people going in to the hospital with respiratory illness but not testing positive are being deliberately placed with patients who have tested positive so they will become infected? Or are they putting people with other respiratory illness in with the Kung Flu patients in hopes to drive the mortality rate up?
So maybe I am more then a bit paranoid. But it is weird.
Another reason people hold so tightly to that mindset is that they're unwilling to admit that their belief in Covidism (which really is a perverse form of religion)was wrong. They cannot admit to being mistaken about anything, period. Perhaps they believe that admitting they bought a crap sandwich would make them look like fools.
So you're telling Susan Quin to become a transgender? 8>)
“Have any of you had any success with getting through to people you know who are of the type that Susan writes about?”
I dropped my hard-core leftist acquaintances during the, ‘0bama Reign of Error.’
I have three very good friends, all Democrats, that I am also thinking of dropping. Their Covid Fear is just ridiculous. They are so un/ill-informed.
Actually, Covid may be a good thing for those of us that have been tolerating these idiots in the name of Love or Brotherhood, or whatever you want to call it. It’s a perfect hill for a friendship to die on.
I learned a long time ago that when someone ‘shows you who they are’ the very FIRST time, you NEED to believe them...then RUN! ;)
“...paralyzed by fear but really needing some fresh Basil.”
LOL! Perfect description!
Well, she isn’t my friend, fortunately. She is Susan Quinn’s friend.
But I think Susan does speak for people who have friends like this and are sad that they are living their lives this way.
I don’t know what I would do if I had a friend like this. I probably would not have her as a friend for long because I would get exasperated and tell her how insane she is. But Glennaro a few posts up had a good idea as to how to approach these people.
“My daughter works as a nurse at the largest hospital there and tells us they never got close to capacity, even in the retirement capital of the world.”
You’ve probably heard about the up-tick in cases in Wisconsin, recently.
None of our hospitals have been at capacity either. They opened the 530 bed Tent City at our State Fairgrounds last week, but so far have had no takers. And, they haven’t had a single patient since the beginning of this boondoggle!
I've taken this little event for granted for many years, but today's is simply a wonderful -- if not wondrous -- sight to behold!
No, I don’t know of any such website. My daughter shuns social media, so she wouldn’t know either.
Ironically, I am 75 with co-”morbidities”. I am singing with our church choir tomorrow morning, eating out more often than not, and I have a nasty habit of forgetting my mask and leaving it in the car, or on the table when I visit the restroom. Two of the women I mentioned are a good five to ten years younger. My fearful sister, the world’s biggest victim (just ask her) is 76. And while she won’t go out, she babysits three of her grandsons after school four days a week! LOL
When Obama won, I moved almost all my 401K investments overseas. When Trump won I moved them back.
After the fact analysis has shown those were two excellent moves.
You sound like me. I am a bit of a hermit too. Very independent at 2 months short of 87. I live alone and love it. My family ignores me. My liberal collage prof hates to be around me because...well, you know why (she is a prof.)I am a conservative so that cancels out my Master’s degree. There is no point in trying to talk sense to a liberal. Their “truth” is all around them in a community of like minds. I gave up trying to convince her that we are not all going to die from Covid19. Some of us will die from regular flu or heart attacks or strokes or an accident. I don’t fear much of anything and death will be a relief. I keep busy reading, going for walks, and checking out Free Republic for news.
Over 2 weeks ago my husband and I attended The Prayer March in Washington, DC...(Franklin Graham)
.....along with approximately 100,000 people
We are fine!
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