The 1-Year Anniversary of 2 Weeks to “Flatten the Curve”

So, a year ago today, the whole world changed. It was a Friday, and when my husband picked me up from work, the first thing I said when I got in the car was, “I need a drink.”  He asked me, “Where to?”  And off we headed to the Deutsches Haus, the German club we belong to.

It was the very last time I sat at the bar.  Anywhere.

The week at work had been brutal. There was something out there, but nobody really knew what it was. There were 3 “presumptive” cases at local New Orleans hospitals. Even so, the Mayor began methodically cancelling whatever events were scheduled for St. Patrick’s Day weekend. In our events department at the Audubon Zoo, the week started out with a couple of cancellations of events from clients. It was my job to let our staff know via email that an event had been postponed or completely cancelled.

As the week wore on, the emails that I was being instructed to send out, as the cancellations happened, suddenly became more fast and furious. It seemed like every hour, I was being told to send out another email.

EVENT CANCELLATION.  That was the subject line of every one.  EVENT…CANCELLED…

The dominoes were falling almost faster than we could keep up. What, in the hell, was going on??

That night at the Deutsches Haus, one of our friends, Linda – whom we hadn’t seen in awhile – walked in and saw us sitting at the bar.  She came up to us, and I said, “I have no problem hugging you if you are willing to hug me.”  They were already telling us not to touch other people. Linda replied, “Hell yeah, I’ll hug you!”

And we hugged.

We had something to eat. I might have had 2 or 3 beers. Probably even a shot of slivovits, my favorite. I really don’t remember.

It seems SO long ago…

That was Friday the 13th. Friday, March 13, 2020. How ironic, how cruel even, that the most unlucky day on the calendar turned out to be the last normal one.

There were so many events in the city coming up that weekend that we were looking forward to. One by one, the news came out – cancelled. Friends of ours that we usually celebrate with had been in New York for the birth of their second grandchild but were heading back to New Orleans for St. Patrick’s Day. I remember telling them, “You might as well stay in New York – nothing happening here.”

As it turns out, nothing was happening in New York either. Every event – life as we knew it – was being cancelled. Everywhere.

That following Monday, before we even hit the Noon hour, our senior director gathered us in one office to tell us that “the facilities are closing” and all non-essential staff was being sent home to work from there until further notice.

We were stunned and confused. What do you mean the facilities are CLOSING??  What do you mean we’re being SENT HOME??  What in the hell is going on???

That was the beginning. They started telling us that these things needed to be done to “flatten the curve” – we need “two weeks to flatten the curve” so that the hospitals don’t get overwhelmed by people being brought in, suffering from this “thing” that we didn’t even know what it was. Information was coming out faster than we could comprehend, and none of it was making sense.  But this is what we had to do to “stay safe” and “beat this thing”. Whatever it was.

Now here we are, one year later, and the “two weeks to flatten the curve” has turned into the ruin of our economy, lives and businesses destroyed, jobs lost, people isolated from their loved ones. The same restrictions and cancellations are still happening.  All in the name of “safety”.

Now there’s a vaccine. Several of them, actually. And that’s supposed to make everything better. That’s supposed to make everything “normal” again.

Meanwhile, we’ve all lost a year of our lives that we will never get back.  I lost my job.  After almost 28 years.  I’m still not working.  Some people lost their lives.  Some people’s loved ones passed away, and they weren’t allowed to be with them.

All in the name of “safety”.

But now everything is going to be okay again?  Now there’s this “magic bullet” that’s suddenly going to fix everything?  We have to believe everything they’re telling us and do everything they’re saying we should do – so we can continue  to be “safe”.

Because it’s “science”.  And we have to believe the science. And the “experts”.

I stopped listening to them almost a year ago now.  The “experts” and their “science” have destroyed lives and livelihoods. In more ways than anyone could have ever imagined.

I’m sure they did what they thought was best.  But there’s so much we will never get back.

Please don’t think for one moment that I am putting all this above the physical lives lost. But there is a lot to be said about the remnants of what is left behind – and in some cases still going on – in the wake of lockdowns and shutdowns and the removal of basic freedoms.

All because “we are keeping you safe”.  It’s for “your safety”.

It’s for your own good. You need US to keep you safe. Right?

A week ago today, my best friend from high school lost her husband. What rings in my head constantly since I found out he died is what she said to me when she called me to say he was in the hospital.

“I don’t know how he caught it. We were so careful. We did everything we were supposed to do.”

And therein lies the problem.  And the reality of that depresses and devastates me. Because, as I’ve said before, almost since the beginning, life is not inherently safe. You do what you can. And that is all you CAN do.

What concerns me now are whispers of comments such as “You’ll be able to do this and this and this now – if you just do THIS.”

And therein lies the second problem.  Some of us have already done what you told us to do. And it still wasn’t okay. 

It’s not okay, just because you say it’s okay.  And you can’t keep me completely safe. And you can’t protect me from everything.  I want to go and do and live and take my chances because I can.  Not because you tell me I can.

That is the essence of life. And of freedom. And I will give up the things I love if it means keeping my freedom. Because that is more important to me than anything. For without freedom, what is life…