Life Without Covid?

 

What would we have done the last 3 years if Covid had not been here to make life grand? It’s all conjecture and I don’t have all the answers, but I can certainly speculate…

 

·       Probably the number one effect has been the worldwide economy. Most of our livelihood’s were affected by supply chain issues. You can’t sell or work from an empty wagon. Empty or nearly empty shelves became the norm. In the early days of 2020, little was known about this virus and how it spread. Truck drivers took a huge risk to continue working and deliver the goods. I can’t say I blame a trucker who is in contact with multiple sources of infection to be hesitant. Thankfully we eventually discovered Covid was primarily air-borne and it didn’t live too well on a hard surface.

·       Who thought that people would leave their jobs and not re-hire when we started to get a handle on Covid? This facet dives me loony tunes to this day. How were all of these people making a living? I realized the Fed offered a hand to help people when business’ shut down or even went out of business, but did they offer help for over two years? In my travels, literally every farm & ranch store, pet store, veterinarian, hotel and eating establishment still has a “Help Wanted” sign on the door.

·        Remote working has been the greatest challenge of all. Thankfully I only had to work at home for 5 or 6 months in 2020. I know people who have been working in shorts and flip flops since Day 1. The pundits say that more work was accomplished during the pandemic, and I agree somewhat. It’s amazing how much work you can get done when you close the door and limit distractions. Video calls became all the rage these last few years as well. They were great for inter-company meetings and such, but I hated them for other uses. In a thick French accent, “I fart in your general direction.” Monty Python The Holy Grail reference… I gave several presentations to a blank screen and it made me doubt my presentation skills. I must be as boring as that teacher calling roll in “Ferris Buehler’s Day Off”. “Buehler. Buehler. Buehler. Anyone.”

·       I bet mental health would have been much better without Covid. Most of us nuts might not be as nutty. The isolation was really tough for some I would venture to guess. I found myself speaking the words loud and clear as I typed away at my laptop. It really got bad when I answered myself… Drug companies would not have had their big bonuses because Prozac and Lithium prescriptions would not have sky-rocketed without Covid.

·       In my occupation, we saw the affect Covid had on dog shelters. The clinics and retail stores I called on told me that all the shelters were basically empty. People felt a need for companionship in an animal sort of way. The backyard poultry industry mushroomed into a flood of new business. Good for business as I can testify to; feed and vet supply companies had banner years from 2020 to 2022. I’m almost a little embarrassed to admit that my company did great. Unfortunately, as several of my customers hypothesized, as the pandemic weakened and we tried to gain a sense of normality, the animal shelters filled up again when some folks asked for a do-over on their pet adoption.

·       Without the pandemic I bet Ukraine would still be a nice place to live. Putin would still be cavorting shirtless on his pony and the people of Ukraine would not be having to live in fear of a bomb dropped on their head. Maybe Putin actually did go nuts sitting at the end of his long table doing Zoom calls.

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·       Anthony Fauci would not have had to hold his head in his hands and mutter, “What the hell did they just say?” We probably wouldn’t have had politics over science without Covid. Oh, and Dr. Ashish Jha would not have to tell the talking heads “Thanks for having me here today” a hundred thousand times….

 

 

·       China would not be defiantly saying, “We didn’t do shit!”, “Not my fault.” or “Who, me??” We have never seen a country crawfish and toss shade on a situation more than China. I’m glad we get the true story in the US. Nudge nudge, wink wink. Another Monty Python reference…

·       Finally, millions of trees would not have had to be slaughtered and give their life to the Charmin guy and our clean backsides.

 

I sure hope we have learned from Covid. This battle (and it has been a battle through and through) has split and divided us more and more. Maybe we have way too much unfiltered and un-vetted information at our disposal. I miss the old days of Walter Cronkite telling us what happened today and I disdain hearing a news-reader today offer up their opinion of what happened, why it happened and what they think the result will be.

Unfortunately, giving my opinion is exactly what I have been doing these last 900 words or so. I wish I had the answers to all the questions. I wish we could just Google “Ask Jeeves” and find out first hand. This “editorial” has been meant to give you a giggle and try to deliver a tongue in cheek view of the world.

Humor is so much more fun than say, anything else in the world. Right?