Having been ordered by Governor Newsom to shelter in place, along with some 80 million Americans by their governors, I diligently tried to order groceries from two apps, which did not work, and various online grocery sites, which were overloaded. So, early on a rainy morning my wife and I ventured out to the market to buy food. What we found there reminded me of one of those sci-fi movies where we humans are being attacked by an alien invader: a hushed store, empty shelves, and frightened people (me included). What I did not expect to find was human kindness.
Staff at grocery stores and
pharmacies are no less first responders than other essential services including
medical staffs and doctors. In this time of the coronavirus, I was completely
unprepared for the kindness the grocery staff showed us.
They obviously knew we were
seniors. They insisted I purchase the last bottle of vitamin C, to protect our
immune systems. They gave me several packages of hand wipes, and went into
their storeroom to find yogurt (yogurt shelves were empty). At checkout, the
man ringing up our order said that in the midst of this terrifying epidemic he
was where he was suppose to be, doing what he was suppose to be doing. And, I
overheard two other staff members talking about being awakened at 3 a.m. and
asked if they would come to work. All of these workers were calm and
reassuring, something to think about in this "Time of the Virus."