An editorial, by John-Michael Scurio
Let's imagine COVID-19 is glitter.
It's on a doorknob.
You touched that doorknob and now that glitter is on your hands. Then you pay cash for groceries, grab your phone and high five DeeDee, the cashier, and a good friend of yours. Then you wash your hands with the hand sanitizer that is provided at the counter and exit with your groceries taking Paul, the bag attendant, up on his offer for assistance to your car.
DeeDee has been working all day, she's tired. She says goodbye to you and then rubs her tired eyes. Then she uses the hand sanitizer.
Note: The eyes, nose and mouth are entry spots that transfer glitter from outside the body and bring it internal into our immune system.
When someone asks, tells, suggests, encourages or pleads for you to cover your face with a mask, and to follow the safety protocols, they are guiding you to do what you can to protect these entry points into your human body's internal microbiome, where the virus needs to go in order to do what it came here to do - kill. Note: The human microbiome is the collection of trillions of microbes living in and on the human body.
Yea, yea, you're 28, you're young, healthy. You work out. I get it. You're unstoppable. There's no way glitter is going to kill you. That's why you're going to The Lake of the Ozarks. It is a bold choice.
Well, back, in the 70s, we were all told no shoes, no shirt so therefore no service. These guidelines were related to health code reasons on the coat-tails of the hippy counterculture and youth movement that spread around the world. This culture and movement had some issues around hygiene and public officials took action. Business owners liked these guidelines because it promoted proper decorum and decency for other patrons in their establishment.
DeeDee, the cashier, is now infected.
Meanwhile, the bag attendant, Paul that helped you out to your car with groceries has glitter on his hands now. Paul is a new Dad and he goes home, grabs both of his girls and gives them a huge hug and kiss. Now, the daughters have glitter on them.
Glitter is a perfect analogy for Covid-19 because it really goes from inside that birthday card that Jane opens at her birthday party and it falls out all over Jane. When she hugs and kisses everyone at her birthday party, the entire party has been glitter-bombed by birthday girl Jane. It is only a matter of time before the glitter gets inside of them as well. We can all relate.
Well, naturally, (as babies do) Paul's girls put their hands in their mouth and touch their face. Glitter goes inside the girls.
Today, June 27, 2020, this is a big problem for human beings.
At the time of this published posting, 498,668 human beings have died.
The World Health Organization (W.H.O.) declared this a worldwide pandemic on March 11, 2020 and society for human beings has forever been changed.
We all know that change is never easy and people who are employed in roles where they are considered change-agents at their company know that change takes time. It won't happen overnight.
The changes we are witnessing on Planet Earth are enormous. This change impacts every human being on the planet. It's incomprehensible for human beings to put this in perspective so, as humans do, we try to rationalize and understand it in our own ways to make sense of it. We compare it to other times in history and we create glitter analogies to better explain.
But it's not the same as the 1918 Spanish Flu, or the plague. It's not the same as the seasonal flu. It's not the same as how cancer kills, or aids, or... or... or... or... Birthday girl Jane can't get cancer or aids by hugging Aunt Clara and thanking her for the birthday gift.
This is unprecedented.
While my glitter analogy might help to explain, there truly is no apples-to-apples comparison in any explanation around Covid-19.
The sign that the humans have followed since the 70s has now been forever changed. No shoes, no shirt, no mask, so therefore no service.
It's not unconstitutional, it's humane. The entire planet is infected and it's how society has to change to protect the human race.
Other countries call us ugly Americans because of situations like this. Our politicians and representatives embarrass us and then we throw our constitutional rights around like we're super human beings.
Americans see themselves as a different species of human beings.
The rest of the world has known this for years.
Shame on our representatives in government, far and wide, who have allowed our country to fall into such disarray because of a massive political divide and internal upheaval. It isn't new news to anyone that our government has horribly failed us - the humans of America.
I know this because over 100,000 human beings that once called America home, are now dead.
But I digress...
You are now in your kitchen, home from the grocery store, you have washed your hands with soap and water and you even used the damp paper towel to turn the contaminated taps off. But you did not clean off your phone, when you initially grabbed it at the grocery store checkout counter, and your phone, of course, has glitter all over it.
So, now with your silky clean hands, your grab your phone because, HELLO! The CNN app has another breaking news story about Covid-19 that you just can't wait to ... BAM!
Glitter!
We all hear lots of personal perspectives around Covid-19, like: The numbers aren't real. It's like the flu. The government is trying to control us. Other humans shame other humans in restaurants and public places for not following protocols and guidelines. The bottom line is, the government gave guidelines, they didn't make choices to protect the human beings of America. They acquiesced to a broken system and left all of the varied choices in the hands of millions of Americans every minute of every day.
They distributed guidelines leaving it to Americans to choose. Individually choose.
Do I follow the guidelines? Or not?
Do I go to Lake of the Ozarks? Or not?
Do I open my business? Or not?
Do I have a surprise party in Carrolton, TX for my girlfriend and invite 20+ people? Or not?
The huge change that has impacted our entire planet right now is glitter! I don't know how or why it got here, and I don't care right now. That is not where the focus should be. If glitter is a scientific error, or a biological weapon, a terrorist attack, or a virus from a bat, so what. What does it matter where it came from. I don't care if it is like the flu or if it isn't.
Glitter. Is. Here. Now.
What are we doing about it?
Some Americans are focused everything but the actual glitter right now. The statistics, stories, POTUS, media, news, social sites, travel, political issues, political rallies, profit/loss, etc. Some American human beings continue to stay wildly distracted and focused on the problems.
W.H.O. is focused on the solution!? (That is a question and an answer.)
The solution needs tunnel-vision focus from all human beings that have influence and are considered change-agents for our society; our government representatives and W.H.O. for certain.
Decisions and choices far and wide are happening because of operations, or conflict, or budget, or economics, or politics, or whatever. They are not happening because there is glitter in America.
Ask Jane's Mom.
It was very hard to clean up at the end of Jane's birthday party after glitter went EVERYWHERE. It's impossible to truly eradicate glitter from the dining room entirely as it finds it's way into cracks and crevices. Jane's Mom doesn't let those thoughts stop her though, she does her best to clean it all up, but she knows how glitter is. We all know. She'll never get rid of it entirely.
But she is determined and focused to do what she can to eradicate glitter from her dining room after the party is over -- and she stays focused and determined. She tries different things and she doesn't stop until she feels absolutely sure she's gotten most of it out of the dining room.
I ask you - in our huge, powerful government here in the USA, who has this focus? Where is this kind of "Jane's Mom" focus at at the helm where there is the most influence?
I honestly don't know that answer.
What I can tell you is where there is no focus. There is no focus on protecting the human race in America. Ironically, our government has washed their hands of that problem.
It is up to the citizens of our angry, divided, worn, conflicted Country, to make individual choices and decide where to individually focus our attention and energy.
This is why it all feels out of control - because it is.
Our Government continues to focus on the problem and point fingers and call names; and since they've washed their hands of it all, it's left in the glittered hands of the American people to choose how much of that glitter moves around.
For the disbelievers and conspiracy theorists, I ask: will it take someone close to you to die from it to believe it's all actually happening?
At this time, each one of us has the individual control to make choices as a human being.
Are you distracted by the problems or are you focused on the solution? Are you making your individual choices because of all the glitter that is currently moving around in the environment? Are you determined to get rid of it (as much as possible) like Jane's Mom?
Or are you making your choices because of something else? Some underlying personal, professional or political reason?
For every death that occurs, who's responsible? Who's going to bed with glitter on their hands?
DeeDee is dead.
Paul is dead.
Paul's two daughters are dead.
Jane is playing with her dolls on the crystal clean floor of the dining room in her home.
Jane sees a small droplet of left over glitter near the corner of the rug. Mom missed a spot.
Jane (after watching her Mom rid the glitter in such a focused, determined way from the dining room) walks up to her and says to her Mom, "I really love glitter Mommy, but I don't want you to have to work so hard to clean up this mess again. I'd rather do something else instead next year."
Change is never easy, but change is constant.
Jane's Mom was entirely focused on the solution, nothing else.
She's a noble, admirable human being.
Jane understood what she needed to do to sacrifice and change.
She's a noble, admirable human being.
Be like Jane's Mom.
And Be like Jane.❤️