General Discussion
Related: Editorials & Other Articles, Issue Forums, Alliance Forums, Region Forums"This, too, shall pass." Unsolicited advice from someone older than dirt.
First, do NOT interpret this as minimizing the seriousness of the coronavirus. I am 71 and sincerely believe this is the greatest danger we have faced within my lifetime. BUT, for the overwhelming majority of us, it will have minimal impact on our health and money lost can be replaced.
During WWII, American cargo ships headed for Europe were often attacked and sunk by German U-boats and surviving crew members were often afloat for days in crowded lifeboats. With little or no food or water, merchant seamen had very little control over their fate: either a rescue ship would save them or---they would die.
And, many did die; some from injuries and some from thirst. Some drowned and some were eaten by sharks. Some of them---often the youngest and strongest---"just died".
Older men, you see, had already experienced tragedy in their lives. They had lost friends and loved ones. They had known the pain of injury and illness. They had, for various reasons, been in situations where they thought all was lost---and yet the sun rose the next morning, life went on around them and, eventually, so did they.
In the lifeboats, they did what little they could actually do---rationed supplies, treated the wounded and posted a lookout---and then slept as much as possible.
For the younger guys, this was their first brush with death; their first friends killed; the first time their fate seemed totally beyond their control. They scanned the horizon around the clock. They replayed in their minds the horrors they had just witnessed and---they worried and worried and worried. And, some, totally exhausted after days of despair, "just died" while the guys with the gray hair, extra pounds---and scars---were alive to be rescued days later.
Do everything that you can do to keep safe. Be smart. Understand that "all you can do" is all you can do. Once you've done that, read, binge-watch comedies, write letters---and get plenty of sleep.
Later.
SWBTATTReg
(22,129 posts)was enough for me in my lifetime but apparently here we go for another round ... like you said, we will get through this, be safe and take care!
marble falls
(57,097 posts)agingdem
(7,850 posts)and for some reason I'm not scared..I've lived thru polio/Hong Kong flu/asian flu/avian flu/HIV pandemic/Reye's syndrome ...I live in a bordertown and every few years we have a tuberculous outbreak...and I'm still here...this time the panic isn't so much the virus as it is the orange anus occupying the White House...
sprinkleeninow
(20,249 posts)PatrickforO
(14,574 posts)LiberalArkie
(15,715 posts)Back before any one knew anything
japple
(9,826 posts)those old non-disposable needles back in the day had little tiny barbs or what appeared to be rust on them. I used to get 6 allergy shots a week for several years in childhood and remember those needles very well.
marybourg
(12,631 posts)and much more frightened during the Cuban missile crisis, and even at the assassination of President Kennedy than I am now. At 78, Im right in the cross-hairs of this pandemic, but Im philosophical about it and going on with as much of my life as I can.
Polly Hennessey
(6,798 posts)This will pass and most of us will survive. I am worried about those with too much toilet paper. Perhaps they will share within a week or two. Who knew that toilet paper was Americas security blanket. I am 79 and have not and do not feel in the least bit worried. Just as I have done all my life, I meet each day with confidence, not fear. Being fearful of everything can be more detrimental to health than the universal fears the world throws our way every day.
Skittles
(153,160 posts)it's the lack of leadership during a health crisis that truly scares me
DinahMoeHum
(21,789 posts)#newrostrong
dweller
(23,634 posts)and i won't either 😶
✌🏼
emmaverybo
(8,144 posts)example particularly apt.
sprinkleeninow
(20,249 posts)I have a rustic boards/cottage/shabby chic wall hanging right here in my dining area.
"Let whatever you do today be enough."
💜
keithbvadu2
(36,809 posts)PatrickforO
(14,574 posts)When you're going through hell, KEEP GOING.
We will make it through this. Maybe not all of us but enough.
volstork
(5,401 posts)Thank you for the reminder. Humanity is resilient, and Id like to think that those of us here on DU with more open minds than most out there have resilience in spades. We love, we care, we do our best to help. As long as we keep doing those things, we help each other and ourselves.
yaesu
(8,020 posts)just like with tRump as president, how much damage will be left behind.
jrandom421
(1,004 posts)as Americans, we'll get to work, clearing the debris, fixing what can be fixed, replacing what can be replaced, work to help our friends and neighbors, and get everything we can back up and running as well as we can.
"We're American, we don't walk around terrified"
Colin Powell September 12, 2001
"This too shall pass.... like that really bad burrito you had for lunch."
Hekate
(90,692 posts)Same age here.
Karadeniz
(22,521 posts)LTG
(216 posts)Speaking before an agricultural gathering in Wisconsin in 1858 Lincoln told of an Eastern monarch who asked his wise men for a phrase that should be kept always on the walls before them. This too shall pass was the phrase chosen. It comes from an ancient Persian fable.
Perhaps oddly prophetic and meaningful just a brief time prior to his presiding as President over a nation tore apart in a bloody war that sought to tear apart the nation and tear the fabric of their society.
But, in time, that too passed away. As will our current challenges. God be with us all. As we all must be there for each other.
Rural_Progressive
(1,105 posts)You articulated it better than I ever would have.
I've been talking her off the ledge multiple times over the past few weeks. She has been "they worried and worried and worried." Finally yesterday I told her nobody can be on watch 24 hours a day for an extended period of time without putting themselves at risk. I suggested she take some down time and I would take the watch for a few days. Today has been much quieter. I just copied what you wrote and told her I got it from an old friend with kids about her age. Hope you won't mind my taking the liberty but it seemed the best way to get her to take it seriously.
Thanks from a very tired father with a freaked out adult daughter, you have done a very good deed today.
flibbitygiblets
(7,220 posts)The messages and spirit here are uplifting and reassuring, but not sugar-coated. Something this country is starving for right now.
SmartVoter22
(639 posts)Probably like you, I had cloth diapers as a baby.
I know how they were used, cleaned and sterilized at home.
If I have no paper, I will be able to wipe my own bottom, unlike some younger folks who may not know how to even start going about self-sufficient personal care.
Any bets on 'diaper rash' as Instagram trend?
LTG
(216 posts)Makes you lament the passing of paper catalogs in the mail. Hard to wipe your arse with a web page. 😉
sarchasm
(1,012 posts)DeminPennswoods
(15,286 posts)Growing up, I heard stories of the local tuberculosis sanitarium from where few ever returned. Kids were crippled from polio. I remember seeing stories of people needing "iron lungs" to survive in severe cases. Mumps, measels, chickenpox were well known to my generational cohorts.
DinahMoeHum
(21,789 posts). . .in the UK in 1941 by Kurt Hahn and Lawrence Holt - to improve the survival chances of young seamen after their ships were sunk during the Battle of the Atlantic.
https://www.outwardbound.org.uk/our-history
#newrostrong