It was the only thing that made me smile today. I had thought we were making progress here in Los Angeles in staying ahead of this virus and then the numbers jumped up. I guess it was to be expected after the appalling videos from last weekend, showing folks crowding on to the beaches and hiking trails, playing pickup basketball in Venice.
I had thought California was being awesome. I based that on my view from my neighborhood. My neighborhood where the only groups of people I saw outside together were families walking their dogs. My neighborhood where when I take Kody on his walks, we all give each other plenty of space when we pass each other. My grocery store where when we line up to go in, we keep at least a cart’s distance between each other and try really hard not to get too close in the produce section.
That’s why it sickened me to see Californians being so stupid. We are supposed to be cool and smart and ahead of the trends. The rest of the country can continue to think this is going to go away in time for the Easter bunny to show up, but we should know better. We have been through riots, fires, floods and earthquakes. We could have gotten our shit together and showed the world how you beat adversity, but we failed.
So now we need to face the truth. Puerto Backyarda and Los Livingroom are where we need to plan on spending not just spring break, but our summer vacations. Face it, everything has been cancelled or postponed anyway, so where do you really need to go? The parks, the hiking trails, the beaches are all closed because we couldn’t do the right thing.
So let’s do the right thing now. STAY HOME! Stop going to play soccer, pickup basketball, touch football and meeting up with your favorite ten people to hike with. Put the family gathering with 25 people on hold. Stop hoarding toilet paper and packing into Costco and just get what you need for the week. Order what you can online and have it delivered to your house, including maybe a meal or two from your favorite restaurant.
Make a list of things you can do from your house that you always wanted to do. One of my neighbors is building planters for his front yard, while another neighbor is just pulling some weeds and trimming up plants for more curb appeal. There are books to read, movies to watch, languages to learn, recipes to try, closets to organize.
Let’s make Puerto Backyarda and Los Livingroom the trendy places to be. That’s the only way we are going to get ahead of this and we have to get ahead this. Our lives and the lives of the people we love are depending on it.