A REALISTIC FEEDBACK

To The Selfish People Out There, Mingling Without Caution

and spreading the virus to your beloved.

Every place is different. Every economy is different. And every country’s perspective is different on how to prevent coronavirus spread.

But today, I am writing this note out of utter frustration. This writing is inspired by the people whose utter stupidity is risking the surrounding people.

And I am not talking about the people, who have to go out there to earn their livelihood (as there might be no way do their work in remote-work setup). I am not talking about the countries, where the restrictions are not yet being placed in that strict manner.

I am indicating those people who are mingling with others within the strict restrictions, without anything related to work or livelihood or immediate family matters and without maintaining the physical distancing.

How do I know?

From known circles and I believe the similar thing is happening with others too.

During this pandemic, I am more connected to people on the phone, social media, and other platforms. Of course, nothing like an in-person meet, right? But I know that I have to maintain the distance for the greater good of my family.

Now, a couple of my family members required to be in their workplace because of their work-nature.

My father-in-law has to go to his workplace because he is taking care of the security of the building. He has to take care of the requirements of the residents of the building and has to provide the relevant property management support for the building.

My spouse works in a financial institute, where she has to support the client service. As more people are feeling vulnerable about financial security, her function deemed as essential.

Both of them are out there to help people and by doing so, they are making themselves more vulnerable. And this is happening to many people and I salute them for their services and sacrifices for the greater good of the society.

But there are people — whom I called stupid, selfish & ignorant.

And who are they?

▪ People, who are going outside to meet other family members (who are staying in different places) without keeping physical distance. It doesn’t include the people who have to visit their family members for other support (i.e. food, shelter, senior-care, etc.).

▪ People who are mingling with friends for a quick meet-up or smoke-break or a quick-cup of coffee. It includes the people who are also having a pizza party in their car or park or outside their friend’s house.

▪ People who are not maintaining social distancing inside the store or places, where it is required to keep the distance.

▪ People who are visiting other houses to break free from boredom or for other unimportant reasons.

▪ And people, who know about the importance of physical distancing but breaking it anyway or looking forward to breaking it whenever they have chances.

Let me share some personal experiences. First, about the bad ones (who are the reasons for sharing this note).

Incident 1

One of my ex-colleagues was having a chat with me and during the phone call, my ex-colleague mentioned that he had visited one of his friends’ houses as he had nothing to do. He is single, living in a condo-apartment and apart from his work, he just has the virtual call connect with other people for this time being. So, out of boredom, he went to his friend’s house where his friend, his wife and 4-year-old kid lives in.

I was surprised and asked him why you had to go to the place during this pandemic and wasn’t he making the situation vulnerable not only for himself, but also for the other family? His reply was to forget it, as nothing would happen because he was without any symptom or physical issues. I had to cut off the discussion, as the thought was unbearable to continue the conversation.

Incident 2

Last week, one of my friends called me after the office hours and after having some chit-chats, he asked me whether I could meet with him on one of the weekends to have a coffee chat. My friend has a 1-year-old kid and his wife in his house. My answer was a straightforward ‘No’ and also told him not to do it with any other friends. I had to tell him that during this situation, even though it feels like trauma, but he needs to maintain physical distancing appropriately for his family’s well-being.

Incident 3

Yesterday, I had to go to a grocery store to buy some urgent purchases along with a bottle of wine for the weekend. Everything was great. The relevant people and security from Metro were doing their best to keep the physical distance. I had to enter the store in-line with the significant physical distance between people. Once I entered, I quickly grabbed the necessary and went for the wine rack to grab a bottle. Four people in front of one small rack and nobody felt the urgency to keep the distance. People from Metro were telling them to keep their distance and to clear the space, but things remained the same for a minimum of 10 minutes. Not only that, but some people were also touching the bottles although they were not taking all of those. Finally, when I saw a clear space, I quickly entered and grabbed the bottle, without any hesitation and left the space.

Incident 4

Again, an event identified from a phone-call. My mother-in-law was speaking with one of her friends and during the conversation, her friend said that they were arranging a dinner party and invited some of his friends and family members for breaking the fast (as it is the holy month of Ramadan). When she advised her to refrain herself from arranging large gatherings during this pandemic time, her friend responded that it won’t be an issue as she only had invited some of her closest friends and family members.

My question is, was it worthwhile? Why you are taking the unnecessary steps which are making the lives of other people vulnerable?

Because of your ignorant attitude, you are making it riskier for your beloved and for your connected people. I thought, during this time, people will be taking more cautious actions to keep their families safe at any cost. But not really.

Stupidity is what stupid does to show how stupid they are.

Aren’t there any good examples?

Yes, there are.

One of my neighbor’s parents came to visit, but they didn’t even get down from their car the whole time and they were having conversations from their car to their son, their grandkid, and their daughter-in-law. They could have easily entered the house without letting others know, but they were doing responsible things.

Let me give you another one. I had to go Home Depot for taking the fertilizer bags for our backyard garden. The overall facility to pick-up the fertilizers was so impressive. There were four employees to direct where to park the car, a couple of other employees to mention the serial of pick-up and a couple of other employees to deliver the relevant pick-up item nearby your car-stop. It was an impressive display of care to serve and support clients. Thanks for the wonderful experience, The Home Depot.

I can mention a lot of impressive events and incidents of this time, where people are serving others, being at the front (taking more risks), but for the sake of society.

And there are these people, who think that they are untouchable, and they can just break the barrier to keep out the boredom.

To those people, please take care of yourself and please consider the welfare of your family members. Because as a human, you can choose to act selflessly or selfishly, but this virus is not a human and will choose whoever comes to its path. Your stupid attitude will not be a shield for this and will be the cause of vulnerability for your beloved ones.

If you have liked these wordings, you might consider looking into the following one.

Suntonu Bhadra is a 2020 joined writer in Medium, who loves to learn from surroundings and world wide web. He is a Business Consultant in the profession, a mentor of Sales productivity & a traveler by heart. In his newfound love- ‘Medium’, he is expressing his thoughts and is looking forward to engaging.