Pandemonium
When all we need is a one syllable word to survive
Wouldn’t it be accurate if we just called things Pandemonium?
Of course, we could post a definition to be extra helpful.
Many folks might appreciate the chance to get the meaning of
multi-syllabic words.
That’s not their fault.
Our education system reflects society
after 40 years of cutbacks
and 4 years of active disinformation —
baseline curricula no longer develops intelligence, maturity,
clear, sharp thinking skills, common courtesy or common-sense;
instead promotes paths toward wealth, impulsiveness, and power.
Disillusionment
(another big word)
is what many of us feel.
How difficult it is now for the soup of us
stirred up together
without shared language
shared agreement on the facts
shared basic tenets to support public health and individual well-being.
There is no desire to relate,
interest to work together
towards one shared goal at all.
Cigarettes and alcohol, Marijuana are some of the longest words used
to describe what folks deem necessary today
(amidst heavy lobbying by drug culture)
manipulating humans ever towards illusions
to (-dis-)“connect”
to “overcome anxiety” (or-not)
to “gain perspective” (but relevant, or lasting?)
to “heal” (really? please explain exactly how?)
and we are conditioned by living in a glutted “‘legal’ marketplace”
to believe psychotropic substances are like health benefits
because they now surround us everywhere
pushed as convenient antidote, self-check-outs
to manage restlessness, lack of fulfillment.
(god help you while you think that through)
For whatever reasons, far too many of us still just aren’t present; and do not understand
our urgent situation
and why in response to global health emergency
we must memorize and use a one-syllable word in order to stay vigilant, and to survive
within shared company.
Thanksgiving week thousands of Americans are taking to the roads and skies regardless of the risks.
All around the USA
masks been downscaled everywhere
replaced with nothing but presumption
such as “I’ll be fine without it”
and it’s time for us to “get back to normal”
voices of impatience,
confusion,
fear of more months ahead dragging on but out of our control,
and
paranoia sinking in,
moreover amidst new taunts and allegations of broad sorts such as “communism,” or immigrants,
or malefic governmental interference
— all baseless insults which only mire perspective, foment open-ended unanswered questions,
and conflate easily albeit mistakenly into feeling “restrictions on my freedoms” and “my rights” to live exactly how
— I — choose, bottom line.
As for myself,
I disagree.
A year (or more) lost in slipstream of novel virus,
backstage economic shuffle and propagandist agendas
does not weaken the percentages and effectiveness
of wearing masks to prevent contraction of respiratory-borne illness.
I do not bow down to
defiant hateful ignorance
fascist stupidity
laziness nor selfishness asserting otherwise.
9 months into COVID
life augmented by alt reality
some of us might experience Pandemonium
as an unending shopping mall
— crossover between Emporium
and a Pandemic —
where packages can be ordered and delivered on demand
a big outlet for buying different types of masks
never the free kinds
but the ones that show
your fashion sense
your style
or at least your sense of humor
But wearing one
— or not —
many people early on exceeded
personal crisis credit limits
some lost their jobs, some lost their lives
and
some lost their minds
self-saturated in distrust, and shock, and overwhelm
and have since shut down
imploded in some way
and gone berserk.
It has all become so clear
the mask issue
is just another layer banded
over the insufficiency of mental health care
affecting a wide swath of the most vulnerable in our nation
easy prey to non-news outlets
overcome by cooped-up crazy
seeds sprouting forth
from separation sickness inside inside a social species
already not well
already struggling with
inabilities to bridge the gaps in understanding
what it means to have responsibilities to those besides yourself
Which means to me
the rest of us must learn to model it
not just waste breath explaining the same thing over and over
the problem to gain traction on is more than
simple comprehension
it is paired with unrelenting obstinacy, frustration and rebellion
to admit an entire world depends upon the choices that you make
Before 2016,
mentally unfit in public office
was called insanity
now it’s called
(although deplorable)
symbol of the American way of independence
and we are all waiting on the precipice
of a fundamental me /you cognitive split
while you attempt to prove to everyone how you will never, ever be beholden
to another (unless aligned with brethren gangs)
of course, full independence from others is impossible; and self-isolation
creates deep inner conflict, imbalance, profound dissociation,
triggers schizophrenic episodes of violence blaming “others” and ones’ self.
Disownings can spur nervous breakdowns related to denial,
dis-reality ultimately leads to complete dis-integration.
Unfortunately
hospitals are not equipped to deal with mental issues
especially as health care workers are only one small segment of the population
meanwhile even some of them
have gone rogue
Inventing reasons why they are somehow
“not a vector pathway”
spreading contagion in person and through megaphones
at odds with public guidelines, insisting you shall be treated in their offices
while neither doctor nor yourself will have to wear a mask!
Why not??
Aren’t doctors agents in an industry meant to profit off gear and equipment
to cull bags of bloated profits off communicable diseases?
Why are they too not following their Hippocratic oaths?
Are they not living in the same world as me
while sharing the same examination room?
Please don’t tell me that we do not have a major problem here. Every town and neighborhood and apartment complex is loaded with a million different opinions of what protections are essential to be used in close quarters.
If you’re a parent, or a caregiver, the chaos and controversy, the stress of daily interactions lacking shared expectations, without a standard operating system, if you care enough to think about it, throws all precautions you may take right out the window, and a futile feeling never goes away.
For doctors, there is a common tendency toward arrogance, entitlement to bend the rules.
Yet if any place could be more hypocritical I would like to know
(or maybe not!)
If indeed, exception
proves the rule that COVID is a highly transmissible infection amongst humans,
and vast quantities of world cases outnumber you, Dr., Ms. or Mr. Disbeliever,
well, then,
You could be the exception to the rule (of shared Humanity),
Acting inhumanely by spreading the wrong message.
Do not parade absurdity authoritatively above the rest of us,
nor generate misinformed debate. You are not smarter, nor any more
immune to this virus
than are your patients.
Hospitals are not schools.
They are not equipped for this
they have no time to train
people to be respectful.
They are not the stop-gap between a “me vs. you” conundrum
they are not your mother
they are not here to teach anti-maskers
a new concept
which begins just
past the end of your nose and goes out ahead of you
like a new pronoun
named
“we, or us”;
or
teach entitled doctors why it is meaningful that they learn to relate
with respect toward patients
showing decency
full compliance with your field
and obligation to lead others through this darkness
Hospitals are not kindergartens.
Their purpose is not to help rude people learn to be nice to other people
they exist to take care of you regardless
and if you’re of the rank and file
watching Fox news or QAnon malarkey,
whether or not you understand what you believe is of no consequence
while you fall ill from a disease
raging through your neighborhood.
How much money you have, and how white you think you are does not make a difference.
May you be lucky enough to receive the care you need when your symptoms worsen (unless the hospitals in your area are full already
and there’s no room left for you)
So it’s unfortunate
in either case,
whether you can’t learn to distance
or you do know better
but choose not to wear a mask
the simple facts on how germs spread
will take charge of the situation straightaway
and advance into your homes and through your communities, just like running water through a sieve, just like these words went in one ear and out the other.
With mental illness,
peer pressure often helps the obstinate, the difficult,
the conflicted people
come to a conclusion.
Group influence can exert some power.
That said,
if you have no fashion sense,
no reason to consider you should wear a mask (if only to fit in),
no IQ,
or no self-respect,
perhaps you’re simply going out of style
burning those bandanas
those maga hats in all their faded glory
your survivalist and military gear
on your cremation pyre;
your friends and you
may soon be dying off in numbers unimaginable.
I do hope you’ll pay attention, but if you cannot join me
in the realm of reason
and you choose to close your ears
sound the bugle
and may the others hear it
you missed this simple lesson on connectedness
and failed
due to misbelief, or
arguments or choice to make excuses
to not care about anyone Except yourself; and you will have harmed far more people than you care to count.
©Tory Quintero November 24, 2020
