Dear Editor
Two women, across the street from one another, are watching a man, carrying a sawed-off shotgun, as he gets into a heavy-duty van.
First woman: What is your husband doing? He looks like he鈥檚 going to rob a bank!
Second woman: Don鈥檛 be silly! He鈥檇 never do anything crooked, he鈥檚 just going to buy toilet paper.
That鈥檚 my contribution to the toilet paper jokes.
Enough, already.
Well, right now this place needs a plumber and an electrician, but I鈥檒l have to forego them for now. And I need a hairdresser. I鈥檝e quit looking in the mirror We will all have to start wearing our hair in pony tails. At least I did get my B-12 shot. Without it I can鈥檛 spell, I mix my words (which at times can be funny) and become so weak I can hardly walk, so I鈥檓 lucky I had the monthly shot.
When the World Health Organization announced we are in a pandemic my immediate thought was, 鈥減anicdemic.鈥� The people who deliberately began to hoard toilet paper were joined by people who never planned to hoard, but began to worry there would be none left for them.
Then there was the gang from Edmonton (or gangs, and I use the word gang deliberately) going to outlying towns to buy out grocery stores. In their country of original they would have been mobbed by other shoppers. Most Canadians, being law abiding, would just stand and wonder how they could punch them in the nose for a distance of six feet.
Then the gun stories coming out of the United States (and I heard also some in the West) were shared. I expect those gun owners needed more guns to protect their toilet paper stashes. Oh, sorry.
We all head of the self-styled entrepreneurs with the hand wipes and the attempted robbery of a food bank and the thug who tried to kill a store worker in Quebec, but for the most part Canadians have done their duty and listened to what we are told to do by health experts.
I have no patience for anyone who hangs onto political bias at this time. I state loudly that, in my opinion, our prime minister, our premiers, mayors and people in positions of grave importance such as in our health system, are doing an extraordinarily splendid job. In their hands are the lives of millions of people. Yes, Pierre Trudeau was an arrogant so and so who didn't understand the West, but he is long dead.
Our prime minister is giving doorstep chats. We have read of the fireside chats of Roosevelt who was president of the United States during the Second world War, which made me name the morning meetings with Prime Minister Trudeau doorstep chats.
In these interviews he is expected to answer every question on every subject in an ever-changing situation. I commend him for being so patient.
I wonder how many people heard that a virus was going to invade our telephones, our computers, anything technical in that line for three days during Easter. Sounds like a Facebook fib to us.
Then there was the phone call into a private radio station for a man who said one good thing had come from this: China was buying Canadian canola. The station man was not well trained. He did not ask, 鈥淲ho told you that?鈥�
Most of the time our radio reporters and journalists are doing a good service. They must be tired of having to report bad news. Once a trucker was interviewed on CBC radio about what a hard time truckers of essentials were having because washrooms and showers were closed. Within two days these services, and food, were being offered, with special precautions.
Now we are being informed market gardeners are worried about getting their usual foreign workers. There you are, Canadians, these could be jobs. Mind you, it鈥檚 manual labour. No takers?
I鈥檓 going to write on a subject which has irritated me for years.
Why are we told to cough or sneeze into our sleeve? Might as well spit all over yourselves. One doctor has come out against the practice. Whenever I would see someone sneezing into their elbow, I hoped they were not recreational huggers and I hoped they wouldn鈥檛 hug me. Plus, most people are right-handed and when they fold their arms they put their right hand into the left elbow. We shake hands right-handed.
For years I have carried little plastic bags in purse or pocket and put used tissues into them.
To return again to the media and information, I no longer have a television set and I don鈥檛 miss it, therefore, perhaps I listen the radio more than others. I heard the well-thought-out speech of Queen Elizabeth, words of encouragement, encouraging our staying power. Then a commentator on a private radio station told how he had praised the speech only to be astounded when a few people phoned in to say that an old, white, privileged woman was not a role model. I always feel sorry for anti-monarchists. They seem so cranky and, in this case, ignorant, disrespectful, anti-woman and jealous.
Of course our monarchy is privileged and from that vantage point can do excellent things. Only people of low self-esteem resent that. Is the royal family perfect? is yours? Anyway, after the commentator remarked on those calls, there was a deluge of calls from angry people speaking against them.
And still somewhat on those lines, what would any province be doing now, had it separated from Canada? From Canada and our system, which since it was developed by mankind isn鈥檛 perfect, but is doing a good job of co-operation and getting better at it.
For those of you who are feeling so frustrated with being shut indoors, let me tell you of two men who lived in this area. I wrote their stories long ago, and both are dead. One story was of a teenaged boy who spent months caring for the family cattle herd along the Beaver River. For company, he had the cattle, his horses and a coyote pup that had adopted him. When he finally was among people again he said he knew nothing. Yes, he knew plenty. He knew himself and he became one of the best amateur naturalists I鈥檝e ever known and a fine man.
The other was a teenager, too, just 14. The family settled on a homestead, built a house and barn of logs. They money ran out. The mother got a job in the hotel in Battleford. The father did like so may settlers, getting a job hauling freight with his team and sleigh from Battleford to Fort Pitt.
Once in awhile he鈥檇 swing around to leave supplies for his son. Doubtless neighbours kept an eye on him, too. These boys were teenagers around 1904. There was no radio yet, nor telephones.
And think of Anne Frank, the 14-year-old girl who, with her family, hid in an attic to avoid the Nazis. All she had for entertainment was the view of sky through the window, and a bit of tree. Fortunately she had paper and pencil to write some remarkable thoughts, before the family was betrayed and killed.
Easter this year should mean more to Christians than usual. Some people have said we will come out of this a kinder, better people. I鈥檓 sure we will for at least two or three months. Of course, don鈥檛 pay attention to me. I鈥檓 just a woman, white and not young and I鈥檓 privileged, because I live on a farm with livestock. I talk to them all the time
I hope everyone is managing as well as possible during this time in our history. We are sure in a better situation than people were during the dreadful days of the Black Death or the 1918 influenza. Why not read up on the history of those times?
We learn from history only if we want to learn, I suppose, but I hope Canada makes good history during these uneasy days.
Christine Pike
Waseca
p.s. Oh! Pollution has gone down tremendously since the start of COVID-19 pandemic measures. Sombody must have shot all the cows.
