I don’t know what to think about COVID-19 these days. Some days, it seems as if life is returning to normal and then I watch the news. Simply put, I want life to get back to normal.
I want to get up every morning and get dressed and hit the road for work. I want to meet people in coffee shops and plan our next move. And I want my kids’ summers to be filled with swimming and campfires, band camp and wish lists for school clothes shopping.
I want my patience to be used on my parenting, my relationships, and my gardening rather than on waiting to see what the end of summer is going to look like.
My biggest “what if” right now is public education. I want to know if my kids will be going to school and how often. I want to know if I have to start working on a plan that allows me and two kids to manage classes, conference calls, homework, work, etc., from home. My thoughts start spiraling about what this next school year could look like and then I am immediately struck by how fortunate I am.
I am not an essential employee, so let’s start there. I was able to choose when and who I made contact with on the outside world since March. I wasn’t dealing with angry mobs who were wrestling over toilet paper or touching people’s hands or money for hours on end in the height of this. I wasn’t making deliveries into store after store every day. And I wasn’t working for minimum or slightly above minimum wage to boot. Yet, the majority of folks I know were doing just that.
Back to Work?
I also wasn’t a non-essential employee who found myself sitting on hold with the unemployment folks for weeks on end either, wondering when money would be coming into my household. I wasn’t kicked off of my SNAP benefits because the government gave me a financial bonus for being out of work and, because the unemployment system was so bogged down, I didn’t receive unemployment or food assistance for weeks on end. I wasn’t going to work with a chronic illness or a compromised immune system, and I don’t have loved ones who do either that I had to worry about every time I left the house.
And now I read posts and comments from people who were under the umbrella of non-essential/working at home folks who are terrified of the idea of having to return to work. I am not downplaying anyone’s illness or loved one’s illness, but, suddenly, a lot of people are angry at the prospect of having to go back to work. They’ve been allowed the privilege of staying at home and financially maintaining their lifestyle, and now they’re like, “Uh. Wait a minute. Surely you don’t mean that I have to go back out there. I’m sick. My kids are sick. My parents/grandparents are high risk.”
And you know what? These are the exact same things that I heard all of my essential worker friends say, too, when the corona hit the fan. And yet, they had no choice.
A Solution?
See, when you’re living in a marginalized class, there are very few options available other than “just do it.” If you were an essential worker and had kids at home with the child care centers and schools closed down, you probably didn’t have the option of staying home without taking the huge risk of losing your job. The further you go down the socioeconomic ladder, the less privilege you have. So I get a little testy when I hear people who have been able to stay at home since March lamenting the chance that they might have to get up in the morning and go to work. I get a little irritated when I hear that they have kids and loved ones who are high risk because imagine what it’s like to know that you’ve put your household at risk since March for a job that doesn’t offer health benefits or paid days off.
Maybe we should stop pretending that we have it harder than everyone else and focus on coming up with solutions rather than adding to the seemingly endless negativity. Is there going to be a perfect scenario for everyone? No. But, just like scheduling conference calls, we’re going to have to go with what works for the majority.
Focus on what you do have. Imagine what others don’t have. And help to create a system that works for the greater good of all and not some. Complaining without a solution is, well, whining.
Onward,
Amy Jo
