It was Seniors Day at Publix, meaning that they instituted a new policy last week, starting yesterday, that the hours of 7:00 to 8:00 am, every Tuesday and Wednesday, were exclusively for those of us 65 and older. It's a respectful gesture, in that we are the demographic most like to die from the coronavirus, especially those with underlying medical conditions (thankfully, neither my husband nor myself fall in that category).
Anyway, it was very organized and civilized, and we stocked up (without hoarding) on groceries (both perishables and shelf-stable boxes and cans), and household goods. All paper products were wiped out, but thankfully we have a fair amount of toilet paper and, later today, I will be cutting up paper towels to use for napkins. There were only two containers of antibacterial wipes on the shelf, and I watched my husband and another woman silently determine they each got one (rather than someone whisking away both).
Our daughter, knowing we were making the adventure this morning, texted us: "Please be safe this morning" to which I replied:
"All went well. We hugged 10 people, we shook hands with 5, we kissed our cashier, and high-fived the general manager on our way out."
I crack myself up! We did, though, thank every Publix employee we saw, especially our cashier... :-)
P.S. When my husband and I took our Hard Rock Guitar Hotel two-night staycation (which I won in a raffle almost a year ago) the first week of March, we watched A Beautiful Day in the Neighborhood. Amazing movie, and here's the true story/Esquire article it's based on.
Rob Brezsny's Astrology Newsletter
March 25, 2020
"Anthropologist Margaret Mead was asked by a student what she considered to be the first sign of civilization in a culture. The student expected Mead to talk about fishhooks or clay pots or grinding stones.
But Mead said that the first sign of civilization in an ancient culture was a femur (thighbone) that had been broken and then healed. Mead explained that in the animal kingdom, if you break your leg, you die. You cannot run from danger, get to the river for a drink or hunt for food. You are meat for prowling beasts. No animal survives a broken leg long enough for the bone to heal.
"A broken femur that has healed is evidence that someone has taken time to stay with the one who fell, has bound up the wound, has carried the person to safety and has tended the person through recovery. Helping someone else through difficulty is where civilization starts," Mead said.
We are at our best when we serve others. Be civilized."
~ Ira Byock, *The Best Care Possible: A Physician’s Quest to Transform
Care Through the End of Life*
SONG: Help! by The Beatles
BOOK: The World According to Mister Rogers: Important Things to Remember by Fred Rogers
POEM: Of History and Hope by Miller Williams
We have memorized America,
how it was born and who we have been and where.
In ceremonies and silence we say the words,
telling the stories, singing the old songs.
We like the places they take us. Mostly we do.
The great and all the anonymous dead are there.
We know the sound of all the sounds we brought.
The rich taste of it is on our tongues.
But where are we going to be, and why, and who?
The disenfranchised dead want to know.
We mean to be the people we meant to be,
to keep on going where we meant to go.
But how do we fashion the future? Who can say how
except in the minds of those who will call it Now?
The children. The children. And how does our garden grow?
With waving hands—oh, rarely in a row—
and flowering faces. And brambles, that we can no longer allow.
Who were many people coming together
cannot become one people falling apart.
Who dreamed for every child an even chance
cannot let luck alone turn doorknobs or not.
Whose law was never so much of the hand as the head
cannot let chaos make its way to the heart.
Who have seen learning struggle from teacher to child
cannot let ignorance spread itself like rot.
We know what we have done and what we have said,
and how we have grown, degree by slow degree,
believing ourselves toward all we have tried to become—
just and compassionate, equal, able, and free.
All this in the hands of children, eyes already set
on a land we never can visit—it isn’t there yet—
but looking through their eyes, we can see
what our long gift to them may come to be.
If we can truly remember, they will not forget.
QUOTE: "When I was a boy and I would see scary things in the news, my mother would say to me, 'Look for the helpers. You will always find people who are helping.' To this day, especially in times of 'disaster,' I remember my mother’s words and I am always comforted by realizing that there are still so many helpers — so many caring people in this world." ~ Fred Rogers, aka Mister Rogers
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