June 10!!??

 June 10. Wait...what?

I watched our Governor’s press conference yesterday. Ralph Northam. You remember him, right? He’s the guy who just yesterday it seems was two seconds away from busting out a moonwalk move during another presser. Yeah, that Ralph Northam. Anyway, now he’s the gravely serious doctor/governor announcing that his stay at home suggestion of last week now carries the force of law and its violation now classifies as a Class 1 misdemeanor. Apparently, Virginia’s beaches were packed like sardines over the weekend by our State’s idiots, prompting the Governor’s action. I listened to the presser but I didn’t hear about June 10 until an hour or so later. This happens with me a lot. My mind wanders, I get easily distracted and I miss stuff. It must have happened during the Q and A afterwards. By that time, no telling where my head was. So yeah...this stay at home, shelter in place, quarantine, lockdown thing is on thru June 10th.

On the bright side, it has more caveats, codicils and escape hatches than Donald and Melania’s pre-nup. It’s not a real lockdown, but close enough for government work. And that close enough is enough to give me grave concerns...about my sanity around, oh, let’s say May 15. Who am I kidding, by the middle of April I’ll be a basket case.

In my house, Pam and I are having two completely different reactions to all this. Pam has found this entire experience incredibly freeing. Last night she mentioned to me that for the first time in her life she doesn’t feel the pressure of...lists. These are the lists she keeps in her head and on paper of all the things she needs to accomplish, both short term and long term, both real and imagined. There are things she has to do and things she needs to do. Then there are things she should do, and things she doesn’t have time to do and consequently feels guilty for neglecting. Suddenly, she is free from it all. She feels lighter, more in control of her new, slower, less packed to the gills life.

I have a different set of issues. I run a business and like most other businesses it is diminished. I feel a great deal of pressure and responsibility for my clients. For the first time in 37 years I am being temporarily forced off the treadmill of production. Instead of doing business, I am now concentrated almost exclusively on preserving business...a completely different experience for me and one that I am having difficulty adjusting to. It’s like I have been playing offense all of my life and suddenly now I’m asked to become a defensive specialist. It’s disconcerting, to say the very least. For me there is absolutely nothing freeing about any of this. It feels oppressive and heavy. I hate the sound of the words “lockdown” and “Stay at home” coming out of the mouths of politicians directed at me, a free citizen of a Republic. I chafe at being ordered about this way. I worry about the sudden disappearance of liberty, the panic-induced evisceration of the Bill of Rights in the name of public safety, and worry about how easily these new governmental powers will be relinquished when the threat is passed.

For now, at least, I am willing to comply with each edict that comes down, because I consider myself a patriot and someone who cares about the greater good of what is best for everyone else, not just me. But, don’t kid yourself. I am a free American man and I take liberty very seriously. I will keep a sharp eye peeled for opportunist in government and business who might seek to consolidate power during a crisis. I will obey and comply as long as I am convinced that the orders are genuinely and scientifically conceived, and executed fairly and without bias. 

But, let this serve as a warning to any government official or CEO...my antenna are up and fully functioning. If I detect any politics or profiteering in any of this, if I catch a whiff of bullshit in the air, my continued cooperation ends.