Day 45

We're not all in the same boat, and I know that I'm lucky to be in the position I find myself in now - retired, not reliant on the arrival of a paycheck, and no dependents relying on me.

I can afford to continue to shelter in place, and my situation allows me to feel that the state-wide order shouldn't have been lifted so soon here in Georgia.  

While I can afford to stay at home a little longer, both financially and psychologically, what I can't afford is to get sick.  There's an old saying that if you can't do the time, don't do the crime.  Well, I can't afford to be ill, so my ass is staying up on this hill.  

I'm 65 years old and just entering the age where the coronavirus can be particularly punishing.  I live alone, and don't have anyone here to help care for me should I get deathly ill.  Sure, there are people in my life who will come by to bring me food and medicine, but I would hate to put them in a situation where they might catch my infection.  Not to be overly dramatic, but if I were to come down with covid-19, it could very well be a death sentence for me.

So I'm being very careful.  I've been venturing out to the supermarket about once every other week, but otherwise I've been staying at home and avoiding people as much as possible.  I've exchanged pleasantries with neighbors from opposite sides of the street a few times, but that's been about it.

But I recognize that if my position were different, my attitude would probably also be different.  If all this hit, say, 10 years go, when I still needed a fairly regular paycheck, I'd be needing to go back to work and I would have needed clients back at their work, too.   I that were the case, my subconscious "elephant" would be heading back out into the business marketplace, and my rational "monkey" would be saying the government doesn't have the right to tell me if I can or can't earn a living (see yesterday's post for an explanation of Jonathan Haidt's subconscious-elephant-and-rational-monkey model).  I wouldn't be one of those yahoos storming the Governor's office with an automatic weapon in my hand, but I would be "questioning the science" and embracing theories on herd immunity and miracle cures.

Our situation determines our position in this matter, not the other way around.