i live in sacramento where we have been in a locally ordered countywide shut down since midnight on wednesday march 18th. on march 19th and 20th (see those posts) i covered the first two stages of shutdown: denial and anger. none of this is linear, i might go in and out of denial, anger and the rest of the stages throughout the day let alone week or month, especially now. today’s stage is bargaining.
my personality wants what it wants when it wants it. as a veteran advocate/lobbyist, i love to bargain about anything. i also love to rationalize and find loopholes, which is roughly the same energy. so if someone tells me that i can’t do something, i immediately start to figure out how to do it anyway and to rationalize it. here is some of the bargaining i’ve been engaging in during the shutdown. note that most of this takes place in my own mind, i don’t necessarily implement all the thoughts i get, thank god.
god, if i give you 2 full real weeks, can you end this thing? the classic kubler-ross bargaining is really with god not with the public health authorities. god, if i give you 2 full weeks of really and completely obeying the letter and the spirit of the shut down, can you end all of these restrictions for everyone?
or at least for me and my family? related plea: if i do it all perfectly for 2 weeks, even if everyone else is on quarantine can you re-open everything just for me and my family?
what is a legitimate exercise activity? in the beforetime it was my custom to meet in person several times a week for prayer and connection. now we have to have a legitimate purpose to meet in person. while we can meet by phone or internet, i would rather meet in person. unless i am leading, i get distracted during remote connection and do not find it to be the same at all. however i noticed we’re allowed to exercise and walk outside. if i combine a social distancing walk with a meeting, is that a loophole i can cram a meeting through? can we sit on the grass 6 feet apart and pretend to be stretching or something? this is the place my mind goes.
what is takeout food? also in the beforetime my cohousing community used to provide “common meals” a few times a week. we shut those down over a week ago for “2 weeks” (a controversial decision at the time). i notice that restaurants are allowed to do takeout during the shutdown. if i order a bunch of takeout food in bulk from a restaurant and serve it without more than person touching it in our community as an outside takeout meal, am i in accordance with the guidelines?
are housecleaners safe? we are lucky enough to have people clean our home every 2 weeks. i have an 86 year old mother who lives nearby and who i see and touch several times a week so i need to be especially careful to limit unnecessary contact. but cleaning is an essential service and don’t we need more cleaning not less? also aren’t we supposed to do whatever we can to keep people economically afloat? also, i don’t want to have to clean my own home and am not very good at it (entitled victim whiny baby voice). so shouldn’t we have our cleaners come anyway?
