I Visited Blaine County and Lived to Write About My Trip
Over the weekend. Then I came home. I saw maybe a couple of people wearing masks. I dropped by the Picabo Angler for breakfast. The women at the counter by the kitchen were wearing gloves and masks and one woman working the cash register was doing the same. Otherwise, customers were coming in and out and very, very few were masked.
I had biscuits and gravy for breakfast. With a sausage patty and two eggs over easy. Some of you liberal nags will probably tell me I could make healthier choices but I didn’t see grapefruit on the menu. And I should point out I hadn’t gone out for breakfast for two months. Biscuits and gravy once every 8 weeks, I’m not quite so sure I’m tempting fate any more than any day I go shopping for apples during a pandemic.
A friend told me Monday it’ll be better when we get a vaccine. And if we don’t? How long should we be afraid of walking outside?
Then I dropped by the local cemetery, where some unmasked people were decorating graves for Memorial Day.
Pretty much the same at the cemeteries I also visited in Carey and Shoshone.
The people buried in all three cemeteries are dead. I’m sure I’m telling you something you already know. Nobody lives forever. Most people don’t die peacefully in their sleep. It’s often painful. Sometimes people suffer through a lengthy illness. Other times it’s much more blunt and violent.
We fear it and yet most of us believe there’s a possibility of eternal life and perhaps even attaining a place in heaven. Which may look a lot like parts of Blaine County.
I’m not a cheerleader for COVID-19 and I don’t want it but I recognize we can’t shut down the planet forever. Life is risky. A friend told me Monday it’ll be better when we get a vaccine. And if we don’t? How long should we be afraid of walking outside? How long before the economic calamity leads to complete societal collapse?
The hospitals never were full. These stories about outbreaks at processing plants like the one in Jerome never mention if anyone was hospitalized or died. Likely because most of the infected were robust young people who didn’t have any symptoms.
If you really want to save lives, stop driving. This weekend is the opening act in nationwide carnage. The period law enforcement labels the 100 deadliest days.
You might argue you need to drive to get to work and earn a living. Is that so? You’re O.K. with 38 million people losing their jobs. “We’re all in this together!” Right?