The world came to a stop this week. Due to the coronavirus pandemic, many people lost their jobs. Almost everything that makes life interesting is closed. Restaurants, libraries, theaters and concerts, to name a few. The streets are deserted. The only way to socialize with other humans in the outside world is at the grocery store or pharmacy. We try to keep our spirits up, but the uncertainty is nerve wracking. When will it all end? And yet, today, I looked out the window and my heart soared at the first signs of spring. Blooming daffodils bring hope to these dark days of quarantine.

In these dark times of the coronavirus epidemic, blooming daffodils are a sign of hope — In this frightening time of the coronavirus outbreak, blooming daffodils bring hope to dark days.

Daffodils are a special gift from nature. Just when we’ve tired of winter’s barren landscape, the friendly little flowers appear on a warm, sunny day in March. Yes, it may get cold again. It may even snow again. But the daffodils will tough it out and remind us that better days are coming.

I Wandered Lonely As A Cloud, was written in 1804 by William Wordsworth:

I wandered lonely as a Cloud
That floats on high o’er Vales and Hills,
When all at once I saw a crowd,

A host of golden Daffodils;
Beside the Lake, beneath the trees,
Fluttering and dancing in the breeze.

Continuous as the stars that shine
And twinkle on the Milky Way,
They stretched in never-ending line
Along the margin of a bay:
Ten thousand saw I at a glance,
Tossing their heads in sprightly dance.

The waves beside them danced, but they
Out-did the sparkling waves in glee:—
A Poet could not but be gay
In such a jocund company:
I gazed—and gazed—but little thought
What wealth the shew to me had brought:

For oft when on my couch I lie
In vacant or in pensive mood,
They flash upon that inward eye
Which is the bliss of solitude,
And then my heart with pleasure fills,
And dances with the Daffodils.

Daffodils are a sign of hope and rebirth. Like the dark days of winter, the coronavirus epidemic won’t last forever. This great nation will endure and prosper.

After listening to the Democratic presidential debate last night, my mind was in a muddle. I couldn’t really tell what message Biden and Sanders were trying to convey. It sounded like a couple of angry old guys in a shouting contest. But just before we went to bed, I heard on the news that someone said all people over age sixty five should stay home during this coronavirus outbreak. I’ll find out today who said that, but it has me wondering: Is age sixty five the new eighty?

Should healthy people stay isolated just because their over sixty five?

Should healthy seniors be told to stay at home during the crisis? Is age sixty-five the new eighty?

Most sixty-five year olds I know are pretty healthy. Thanks to modern healthcare, the fitness movement, and plant based diets, these newly retired folks are In much better shape than our parents were. It seems like a bit of overkill to me. Retirees are the ones people fall back on to help out in a crisis—whether it’s babysitting,emergency housing , or other calamities that befall working people.

The recommendation is mostly based on the fact that seniors are most apt to die if they get sick with the coronavirus. But there’s a slight flaw in that statistic. It’s mostly the elderly who live in crowded nursing homes who have died. They don’t get out at all. They’re stuck in stuffy, stinky, crowded places where staffers are too busy to wash their hands as often as they should. And the air doesn’t move very fast in those little rooms.

Naturally, anyone who’s at risk should stay at home during the coronavirus outbreak. But not everyone over age sixty-five has heart disease, kidney failure, diabetes, or other serious health problems.

So what’s a healthy senior to do? Should we wear hats to disguise gray hair, and sunglasses to hide our wrinkles. Shall we be arrested for going to the grocery store for a bottle of milk? Is sixty five really the new eighty?

And by the way. What were those two old politicians doing out in public last night? Both Biden and Sanders are over sixty five.

Tag: elderly quarantine

DAFFODILS BRING HOPE TO DARK DAYS

Daffodils are a sign of hope and rebirth. Like the dark days of winter, the coronavirus epidemic won’t last forever. This great nation will endure and prosper.