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Pros and cons list of COVID-19

I’m sitting here on a Sunday afternoon, feeling COMPLETELY antsy. Dieting doesn’t help that at all, because Sundays is usually a HUGE snacking day for me, but the antsiness has been going on for a couple days now, so it’s not limited to today. I think the heart of it all really is this crazy ridiculous pandemic situation in which we find ourselves. I imagine in 20 years we will look back and it will be crazy what our normal is right now, although I could see some things changing in society because of all of this. So I wanted to just take a chance to express some of the thoughts I have, both good and bad, about life right now. For anyone who reads this, please feel free to edit or comment below with your own feelings about things. I’m going to go pro-con, pro-con, just so that I don’t sink into a deep pit of despair and misery and go into how unhappy all of this could make me.

Pro #1: Spending more time with my family. In “normal times,” I have an hour and a half commute, one way, to work, three days a week. I get home around six, and the kids go to bed at eight. Between dinner and getting them ready for bed, there isn’t much time for me to just see their personalities and for us to interact. That has obviously changed with me working 100% from home. I see the kids throughout the day, and it makes me feel so good when we are putting the kids to bed, and Annie asks if I am staying home from work the next day, and I can always say yes. I can come and give them a kiss in between virtual meetings, or Everett can come sit with me while I’m working and Annie is doing violin. There are just more chances for us to be together, and I really appreciate that.

Con #1: Not seeing our friends in meaningful ways. I was reading on BBC the other day, and there was an article about how, in this time of virtual happy hours, there is still something missing from our interactions with others. I remember one of my supervisors in the State Department used to say that diplomats are there for the “last three feet” of diplomacy, meaning the personal interaction that gets things done. We are missing that for sure. I can chat with people from work or from our ward through texts or virtual meetings, but it’s just not the same as being in the same physical space with them. I feel like we are all going to want to hug each other after all of this is over, just so we can know that the people are physically there, because there is a physical connection that we are missing in our interactions, and I’ve found it hard to deal with.

Pro #2: More time to run. This is tied to the first one, largely because I don’t have a commute anymore. Before all of this, my running would happen one of two ways. The first was that I would run during my 45 minutes of lunch while at work. I would basically start my run stressed, since I would try to change my clothes, start my run, run four miles, then change back, without a shower, and be back at my desk within those 45 minutes. The other way I could go running would be when I got home from work, which meant that I would lose out on more time with Rebecca and the kids, which would usually plague me with guilt. Also not a good mindset for just enjoying my run. Given that I get to see Rebecca throughout the day, I don’t feel that much stress about taking my lunch break to go running, not do I have to shower immediately after I finish the run. I can go out, run, come back, log in to work again, and then in a little while take a “bathroom break” to shower and get changed. It lets me run further, with less stress and less guilt. Now, if the government were to declare martial law or something and prevent me from going out? That would be super painful, but in the meantime I’m enjoying the physical freedom I have to run every day.

Con #2: I miss sports terribly. Sports are an opportunity to watch some competition, get emotionally invested in something that doesn’t really matter, and not have to worry about your own participation. It’s fun and enjoyable and probably my main form of entertainment. It’s all gone now. Poof. March Madness, NBA playoffs, baseball. All gone for the foreseeable future, and there’s talk that this will affect the college football and NFL seasons as well. UGH. If something like this were happening, but we still had sports, I would be infinitely happier. But not having sports has put this massive hole in my life, and I want balls to be thrown at sticks, thrown through hoops, or kicked through two poles as soon as possible.

Pro #3: This re-emphasizes the value of education. Now, I am not dunking on people who don’t go to college, nor am I saying that a college degree makes people immune from the effects of this pandemic. We know someone in our ward with a master’s in accounting, but because they were in the hotel industry, they were laid off. On the other side, lots of fast-food places still have employees who have been one of our only opportunities to have some normal purchasing practices right now. BUT, Rebecca and I have felt little to no effects of the economic crisis right now, because my job is such that I am able to work from home and carry on somewhat normally. And that’s really only possible because of the education I have. I’m incredibly grateful for that, and if my son or daughter were to ever say something like “Why do I need to go to college?” I’ll have an immediate retort: “Well, let me tell you about this time...”

Con #3: Our society is going to become even less trusting than before all of this. Nobody really knows how this is going to end, but I think there will be some lingering effects of all of this. I think that our willingness to be a part of a crowd is going to go down as a whole, which I think is sad. I love the spontaneous interactions that come through common experiences, whether those are swapping stories with people when your flight is delayed, or the high fives along the course of a marathon. If people are worried about getting sick from standing in line, or touching hands with someone you don’t know, I could see those kinds of interactions going away, and I think that would make the world a slightly dimmer place than it would otherwise be.

Pro #4: Going to finish out on a positive note! I like the opportunity we have had to have church as a family in our homes. I’ve liked being able to bless and pass the sacrament each week, and we have had good lessons and teachings to both ourselves and our children. When we were with Lollie and Poppie, our church meetings were fantastic, and today, Rebecca shared a sweet Primary message with our kids about King Benjamin. It has also strengthened my testimony of our prophet. With the shift to a home-centered gospel, we’ve been pretty prepared for all of this in that we know what how we are supposed to teach the gospel at home. The spiritual aspects of this have been really positive for me, and even with the uncertainty of it all, being able to trust in God is a great comfort.


This is Larisa.  Blogger won't currently let me write or post comments in the comment section, so I hacked Ethan's post and am posting here.

Pro:  No social pressure.  I know that my extroverted son is definitely missing social interaction with others, but I for one am grateful that everyone is being forced to live the introverted life for once (versus all of us introverts constantly being forced to live the extroverted life).  I love my days now--walking in the morning for hours, reading, writing on the blog, sending letters, listening to music.

Con:  I'm desperately holding onto the social contacts I had before COVID hit because I spent a lot of time and effort cultivating them.  I set a goal for myself this week to reach out to one of my friends over the telephone each day so that I don't lose those relationships.  I have some good, close friends, and I know I will want to have them as part of my life again when this is all over.

Pro:  For years, "doctors" have been disparaged in our society--"they make too much money", or "they don't always have my best interest in mind".  Knowing that most doctors do NOT make too much money (have a look at the bill we get each year for $100,000 in liability insurance), and knowing that most physicians are forced to doctor thinking "how do I keep from being sued?", it's made me sick, seeing how people have viewed doctors in general over the majority of my adulthood. However, things are different now, aren't they?  Where John couldn't even get food at the hospital when he was on call (the Subway was closed at 1 a.m. as was the cafeteria), and he was always required to buy it (which, of course, he wouldn't do--he would literally rather starve), now John's hospital is giving all of the doctors "room service" for breakfast.  Order whatever they want gratis.  People are forming parades and arranging organized moments, applauding physicians for risking their lives each day for humanity.

Con: Not everyone is listening to the doctors (including our own country's president).  In Wisconsin, people were gathering to protest businesses still being closed, and doctors were standing in the way of cars, trying to keep people from gathering at all.  People don't see the big picture--that there isn't room in the hospitals for all of the sick people, and crazy choices are needing to be made based on who is allowed to live and who is allowed to die.  They just think about themselves.

Con #2:  John (and all other doctors) are risking their lives and the lives of their families by going to work.  John's biggest fear (and the one pictured and captioned on the cover of Time this week) is "what if I bring this home to my wife?"  One of John's colleagues has two teenage children, and she has not had direct contact with them for over a month--they live in one part of the house, and she comes home to a different part of the house.

No Pro, just a Con:  Politics.  I don't believe anything good is going to come out of this politically.  Already the MAGA supporters are out in droves, saying that the choices made by responsible politicians are destroying our economy.  These are the people who elected our current president, and seeing that they are a majority, he will run again on the platform of fear and mockery to stay in office.



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