04/23/2020
By Madis Senner
For the first time in a month I went grocery shopping at Wegmans last week. As a senior and someone who is recuperating from surgery only a few months ago I would be very vulnerable should I get Covid-19. I wore a mask and gloves. When I finished putting my groceries in my car’s trunk I took my gloves off and shut the trunk door. As I began pushing my cart to the receptacle where grocery carts are stored I realized I was not wearing my gloves and said, “shoot.”
Then I heard a voice behind me say, “ I can take that for you.”
I turned around and saw a woman in her thirties. She pulled down her sleeves to cover her hands and she said, “See. My hands are covered.”
I told her “thanks for your kindness, but my hands have already touched the cart.”
For years preppers and survivalists have been telling us to stock up on food and load up on guns and ammo to protect ourselves during a crisis. Believing that thugs would be out to rob us and roving bands would be looking to do home invasions.
There has been none of this.
There have instead been incredible acts of kindness and generosity. Television is filled with pictures of health care workers, bus drivers, grocery store clerks and others that have put themselves at risk so that we may be safe. There have been busloads of nurses that have left the Finger Lakes Region for New York City, the epicenter of the virus, to help short-staffed hospitals that are bursting at the seams.
If you have ever seen a person interviewed on television that rescued someone from a fire, or helped a drowning person, often they will say that they are not a hero. Rather a situation presented itself, where they were at the right place at the right time, and that they just acted naturally.
In the months and years ahead many situations will be presented to us. Do we step up like the woman who offered to return my shopping cart, or do we just go about our business? Will you become a hero to someone in need?
4 comments:
Preppers got it wrong huh?
We are only several weeks into this. The economic impact has
Yet to be realized. Supply chain issues are just
Beginning and things such as real food shortages
as well as the social impact it will have aren’t really
felt yet! My advice to you is don’t “burn bread on
yourself “!
You are describing things currently and while it is wonderful that
most folks are doing their best to tolerate this situation and be understanding
and helpful to others, this thing is far from over
You have a rather rose colored glasses view of the World. Most people are decent and step up to help their neighbors but there already plenty of reported crimes related to the pandemic. Price scalping and theft of ppe has become common. Many politicians and their media allies have been so low as to announce that this tragedy is a great opportunity to advance their political agenda. The more dead the better, according to them.Names on request. Use if the NYC subway is way down but robberies are way up. Wait until food supplies get scarce and see if the preppers were wrong. One murderer released fron jail because of inability to control Covid -19 in prisons has already killed again. The preppers are ready for that one, too. Funny, I just commented to my wife
that the preppers were were right all along
If anything, this situation has shown that the preppers were right all along. What is wrong is the authors misconception that prepping consists solely of stockpiling guns and ammo. Never mind the preppers who spent years telling people to "stack food to the rafters," to stock up on essential sanitary, hygiene, and medical supplies, or to start implementing resilient systems to provide for your food, water, or energy needs before things get bad. Prepping isn't about guns, it's about preparing ones self to be resilient in the face of the inevitable crises of the future, whatever they may be. Has this crisis illustrated many important lessons that preppers should take to heart? Yes, I know I have learned a lot from this experience. Has this crisis demonstrated that preppers were wrong? Most certainly not.
How short sided you are...
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