We're not all in the same boat, millions are in the water....

We were all on the same boat until the coronavirus iceberg hit.  The boat being the world we knew before, a ship that has now sunk.  We're all in the water now, but some are in lifeboats, some have a life jacket, and some are clinging to debris.  A few are treading water with neither, and some don't know how to swim.  

And its the arrogant selfish jerks in the lifeboats who are the most despicable.  

Empty and meaningless platitudes are used by thoughtless people all the time, those with mental health issues hear them often.  Its always darkest before the dawn.  When you're going through hell, keep going.  Every cloud has a silver lining.  

Well intentioned though they may be, they can in fact be quite cruel.  And this pandemic is showing how thoughtless and self centred people can be, while thinking they're being all virtuous.  "We're all in the same boat".  The inference is that, more or less, everyone is experiencing the same things, the same anxieties and disruptions.  

Think about it, even just a little, and you start to see how absurd a notion it is.

The people in the lifeboats include those working from home, whose only risky activity is going out to the grocery store and pharmacy, or other strictly essential activities.  For maybe an hour or three each week vigilance is required, then its back to the nest, maybe walking around the block.  The lifeboat crowd also includes those who are retired with stable incomes, anyone who doesn't need to go out except for essential activities or to exercise.

Those in the water include the people who are still working.  While everyone else is being urged to do anything and everything to avoid catching the deadly coronavirus, essential factory, meat processing workers, Amazon fulfillment centre employees and tons more are being told:  "Uhm...its not really that bad, you can still go to work, we have to keep the supply chain open for all those nice people in the lifeboats".  

Then there are those who are out of work, buisness owners and their employees who have been forced onto government welfare, if they qualify and not everyone does.  To add insult to injury they're also being told they're not essential.  I've been unemployed, and I know what it does to a person's mental state and sense of self worth, depression is common.  While I doubt many in this situation are reading my pathetic and miserable little blog, if any are please hear this message:  YES!!! YOU ARE ESSENTIAL!!!  You are every bit as essential as a front line health care worker or anyone else.  

That large gathering in Trinity Bellwood Park in Toronto just recently.  I wonder how many of those young twenty and thirtysomethings are still out working?  Experts are telling us that most transmission is occuring indoors, and Amazon fulfillment centres don't exist in the great outdoors.  I don't blame them for going out, and for not being scared.  Sure they're terrifying those who are safe and secure in the lifeboats, but I never much cared for the arrogant and self centred.