THESE TIMES
Here in the USA, we have lived in an environment of excess, gluttony, self-absorption and indifference to those less fortunate both within and outside of the mainland. But COVID-19 has been a wake-up call to many. Especially as it pertains to common household items we took for granted.
Toilet Paper – Kids have toilet papered people’s homes, wasting a commodity that now has people literally punching each other out and shouting obscenities over in the stores, while others queue up hours before stores open to purchase it.
I recall an elderly relative who was 98 when she said to me just months before she crossed over, that one day our childish pranks of our youth we would regret, like the eggs thrown at people’s homes, or inside open car windows. She said that a day would come when we found there were none left in our refrigerator to eat and that they would be rationed.
My 96 year old grandmother who lived through the Great Depression would often chastise my free spirited spending, lavish vacations, generosity and wasting food by not freezing the leftovers, canning vegetables and fruits when available in-season and not stretching meals by holding onto ham bones for bean soups or seasoning greens or string beans. I remember finding a bottle of unopened salad dressing while cleaning out her refrigerator in 2010 that had an expiration date of 1976!! Tossing it in the trash can for what I thought was her own good, only to see that 98 year old rise up out of her chair to “rescue” it while admonishing me once again for wasting a perfectly good bottle of unopened dressing! (And she was a retired nurse!)
As we attempt to navigate life in these uncertain times of this worldwide pandemic, each day not knowing if social distancing is too little and too late, or, as in a game of Russian Roulette, we have been exposed to either a symptomatic or asymptomatic carrier of the virus.
During these pandemic days, I find great comfort in the wisdom of my parents, grandparents and ancestors. That sage advice which, I happily report I did eventually come around to following before they all crossed over has helped me remain sane in these days of insanity.
The faith instilled in me as a child sustains me each day I walk into the hospital to work with rationed protective gear about to run out and only provided to those who are in the quarantined units, not those who had contact before the diagnosis. Only faith strengthens you to work in a world of rations each day. Our new normal!
But at the end of each day, I chuckle with a snicker as I now count each roll of toilet paper, and purchase packages of napkins from the Dollar Store to fill their place in the event I actually one day again find toilet paper 🧻 on the grocery store shelves again. However I do find joy in laughing about my youthful days and still relish those prankster acts with my siblings, relatives and friends growing up during our wasteful days of “youthful fun.”
Yes I laugh as I call out “I need a roll of toilet paper please” and pray there is still some left! 😂🙏🏽🙏🏽. God bless you all!
MrsRitaOluwole 