EDITORIAL

What a difference a week makes.

Since the last edition of the Winchendon Courier was uploaded, the Winchendon schools announced a two week closing--and two days later, the Governor of Massachusetts closed every public school in the state for at least three weeks. Like a row of falling dominoes, restaurants and bars were closed (except for takeout food), businesses sent their employees home to work remotely, events for weeks to come were simply wiped off the calendar. Meetings that couldn't be cancelled were changed to cyberconferences. Municipal offices and libraries banished the public from their buildings, although staff continued to work and provide services.

I've lived through several intense events. The Blizzard of '78 when Governor Dukakis shut down the state and implemented a travel ban; the first days after 9/11 when all air traffic was grounded; the 2008 ice storm when power wasn't restored for days, at best, weeks in the furthest outreaches of the electrical grid. But--World War II being before my time--I've never experienced an event that brought the whole world and the global economy to its knees like COVID-19 is doing. Certainly, aside from the specter of nuclear war that haunted the nightmares of my generation, I can't imagine anything wreaking such havoc so fast.

None of us know where this might go, and that's what makes it so deeply disturbing. Are we just seeing the first forerunners of a much bigger and more disastrous event? Or will we "flatten the curve," starve the virus of new hosts, slow down the wave and maintain a semblance of normality? No one knows. The lack of hard data, due to the lack of testing and research, gives us very little to work with.

In their uncertainty, some people are making things harder for all of us, clearing store shelves to hoard vast amounts of food, paper goods and cleaning supplies even though the production and distribution of these products has not been threatened. I'm extremely tired of the toilet paper jokes, but they're not as annoying as the people actually buying toilet paper by the warehouse full. I use disinfectant wipes for cleaning because I foster cats for Ahimsa Haven, and I'm having to scrounge and improvise because nary a disinfectant wipe can I find on shelves, anywhere I've looked, for more than a week. Scrounging, improvising and making do are things I'm very good at--but what about seniors and other people with more need and less flexibility? What are they supposed to do?

COVID-19 has swallowed the news; it's hard to find coverage of much else, and even harder to care about it. Tom Brady is leaving the Patriots? Oh, well. The Democratic primaries? Oh, well. To get away from it, I've been binge-watching Star Trek:Voyager and working outside in my yard (more than 14 hours on yard clean-up in the last 10 days and it's only the Spring Equinox).

History tells us this will run its course and pass. The challenge for us is to remember that, and make decisions with a long view, not just reacting to the crisis of the moment. You don't burn down the house to get rid of the fleas in the carpet. As we deal with what's ahead--whatever that is--let's remember to pace ourselves, not panic, and make good choices, because we will be here to live with the consequences.

And, as Bill and Ted would say, let's be excellent to each other, because we're all in this together. After all, we're Toy Town Strong.

Inanna Arthen