Just finished reading from my Twitter feed a few minutes ago and there was the suggestion of someone who has lived thru a lot of stuff. “Write down what is happening to you right now because there will come a time when someone will ask you what this crazy time was like”. Sounds like a winner to me!
This morning, Saturday, we headed for our normal weekly visit to Walmart, here in Zephyrhills, FL. All week long I had been hearing all of the toilet paper stories, the empty shelves, cleaning supplies and so on, so I was pretty prepared for that. It was only 9:30 so we figured the stores wouldn’t be too busy yet. The parking lots didn’t seem too full so Bob dropped me off at the door and went to park.
Wrong! The store was full, full of people shopping, but there was just one major problem. It looked like a swarm of ants had been thru the place before I got there. Not one saltine cracker in the store, the soup had disappeared except for clam chowder, and even the detergent was sketchy. On a Saturday morning you expect to see full shelves because it is such a heavy shopping day. As the realization came to me that people had gone crazy over worrying about having enough to eat in their homes I began to take a couple of deep breaths. The whole thing reminded me of what it was like during the Second World War when things had to be rationed for the good of the country. I remembered seeing people who hoarded things in their basements out of sight because it was against the law.
The citizens who have used normal precautions in keeping their kitchens stocked are going to fare a lot better than the ones who were always running out of everything. What shocked me the most is how close to the edge the average person is when they are given a new situation and they react in a panicky manner to it. Common sense seems to fly out of the window.
Coming home from the store I breathed a sigh of relief as we rolled into our driveway. We are home safe and sound. But I am wondering how many snowbirds may decide to head back to the North a little earlier this year? How many may decide whether to fly or not? We are all going to have to use our common sense and remember we are in this together. In this way we will make the best decisions for our families in the days to come.