From The Ashes

april 26

Grandson William: Grandpa, what was it like during the pandemics. We’re studying the first and second pandemics in history class.

Grandpa: Well William, I don’t know how but we made it through the first one. It was definitely scary because nobody knew when it would end and what the world would be like. We kept thinking it would last just one more day and it never did. It really was like something out of a science fiction or a horror movie.

I didn’t know anyone who died of the virus but I know lots of people who had it and they were scared, real scared. The worst thing was that it felt like our futures were stolen and there was nothing we could do. And remember this virus infected the whole world. There was literally no where to run.

And son, I’ll tell you, the part that was the hardest was that maybe my children and your children would also be cursed with this lousy virus and their futures would be wrecked.

That first one lasted about a year. You know, in the beginning people were supportive and they were careful not to be in large gatherings where they could get the virus. People had to wear face masks to keep from getting it or spreading it.

The president back then was Donald Trump and he was a lunatic. The one good thing about the virus is that it drove Trump from office. One time he said people should drink Clorox and it would kill the virus. I will never understand why people liked him but they did, big time.

But Trump wasn’t the only loonie. There were religious nuts who urged people to come to crowd the churches because God would protect them. God didn’t. And there were other wackos who demonstrated to end the quarantines, without wearing masks. I remember one group said the virus was a Democratic plot to overthrow Trump. It wasn’t but many wackos got the virus and died.

William: What was it like after a few months of the quarantines?

Grandpa: Well, it was not good. Before long, people stopped being neighborly and helpful. In the early days of it, people passed in cars and waved. Later on they scowled and were just flat out angry.

In the beginning, there was still plenty of food. Sometimes we had to wait in line but it wasn’t bad. I remember there were shortages of toilet paper and people actually got in fights over the last rolls in stores. That was kind of funny but the fun quickly faded.

As the days dragged on, food became harder to get and people’s tempers got thin. We got by on peanut butter sandwiches for quite a while. And I never want to see another peanut butter sandwich.

I guess people can take only so much. After a while, people were angry and they didn’t know what to do with their anger. A lot of people just said the heck with precautions and they started going to stores and movies and baseball games. And that set the stage for the second pandemic.

That was really hard because I thought we had weathered the storm and could get back to normal or whatever I thought normal was. And then, there we were, in another nightmare.

William: So then what happened when the virus returned?

Grandpa: My boy I hope you never have to experience such a thing. The first thing that happened was that millions more people died all over the world. It was like the virus had gotten stronger and people had gotten weaker. There weren’t enough hospital beds and doctors had to decide who they should treat and ignore those who they thought wouldn’t live anyway.

I really think a lot of people just couldn’t take any more and gave up. You could see the sadness and defeat on their faces. But it was more. It was like terror. I felt it. I had nightmares. But I never really gave up. I came very close to just checking out but I was able to hang on to my sanity.

And people totally lost confidence in the leaders. They blamed them for not finding a vaccine or something to stop the virus. And that snowballed to where people started ignoring anything the government said. It was like all the things that I thought were important now meant nothing. I really did border on anarchy.

Many totally rejected any organized religion. Cults started forming with people believing in the strangest things. I remember one group that worshipped bats because bats were believed to have spread the virus to humans.

William: Were they called Batmen?

Grandpa: Ha ha. No they were called nuts.

I’ll tell you something else. Many people began carrying guns, people who would never have done it before. And they got this attitude, how do I say it, it was fatalistic, like nothing they could do would make a difference so why not do anything they wanted. And that was very frightening because people without hope carrying guns is a bad recipe.

And in those early years of the two pandemics, it really seemed like the world was going to die. Many people were so defeated that relationships fell apart. I knew more than a few marriages that disintegrated under the strain and loss.

William: So how did you make it alive? I mean how did people ever recover?

Granpa: Sonny, that is a question I’ve asked myself a million times. Your grandmother and I were actually surprised that we stayed together. It was a hard time to believe in anything. But I guess that people have some inner need to believe that they can make things better. Most of us are hardwired to do what is necessary to survive.

Actually, I think you saved the world. If not for the hopes for our children, we couldn’t have gone on. If I didn’t think I could make a better place for you I would have just given up. So I have to thank you for leading the way out of that dark period.

William: Grandpa, I’m glad you hung on.

Grandpa: So am I, so am I. You lead the way in a world that seemed to have lost its mind.