Reflections on the Coronavirus (COVID19)

March 21, 2020

Adapt.

The most fundamental and nearly unspoken primary asset and philosophy of the United States Marine Corps, and one I found to be the only place to go, when I was a Marine in combat, to give me any hope of survival. The situation today requires that you hold back on taking action until you can assure yourself that such action will not cause you less chance to survive than more.

The nation is frozen in mostly silent and temporary mental and physical terror, and it’s not being called terror. Self-induced or not, virus-related or not, political or not…to you as a human being among the species human, it really does not matter. What matters is what is happening on a personal level to you and around you. You must become aware.

Societies big and small across the nation are making it more difficult to know what is happening in areas that really do affect your survival and that of your family if you have one. What is the condition of supply at the local grocery stores around your area of operations? There is no news on that so you have to go to find out. Paper goods, meat supply and much more are important so you must go regularly and check the stores out, even if you don’t buy anything. Fuel is not an issue, yet, but it is important to stay topped up and possibly have a few five-gallon cans full outside the garage (not inside!).

The government (U.S.) is not set up to help the general citizenship in specific and that specific means you. Don’t expect to be ‘bailed out’ with a deposit in cash. In fact, expect cash usage to recede as fears of touching what others have touched increases in the media. There is, as of yet, no end to the celebration of ever more draconian solutions to a disease that has come to take over the world more as a belief system than a physical fact (when it comes to morbidity and mortality).
The U.S. mail, UPS, FedEx, and Amazon delivery will pull back for the same reason because others have touched the physical envelope or package you might receive. Deliveries will recede as will carry-out foods.

Adapt. Observe.

Do not react until you delay to allow for an intelligent response instead of a knee-jerk panicked reaction. Neighbors are good, not bad. Social interaction is required of the human condition so some of the social distancing will also recede. Be ready for that.
We are not, as a nation, heading for a depression. We are already in one. Unemployment is wildly increasing, and you will very blatantly come to see that. The effect of that will be much more staggering than is being discussed. Start communicating more on the Internet and using your cell and home phones to massage grow and protect your social circle.

Life itself just changed around you, now wait and watch for it to change again…and take advantage by adapting.

Next Reflection >>>>>>