A story from the past, maybe about the time I lived in Italy for three years as a child...but wait, Italy is in the throes of a COVID crisis right now. Zero COVID-19 degrees.
Oh, I know--a teaching story from the beginning years, lucky to start with four students in my resource room housed in a portable. But that has to do with my current career as well; I'll give it one COVID-19 degree, since I'm a librarian now.
Hmmm, a post about my former pets growing up? Makes me think of the animal shelters fostering out dogs and cats as they are having to shut down...I know someone who is fostering a dog. Shall we give it it three COVID-19 degrees?
Anything about my current job and lifestyle is definitely a zero degree situation. Working from home, staying at home, going for walks in the middle of what would be a workday just to get my usual steps in (that's my goal for today, anyway)--all COVID-19 related.
The one factor offering a few more degrees of separation is my personal health and that of my family and friends. No one in my personal circles is sick (knock on wood). We don't know if we're carriers or not. In light of that unknowing, I'm going to pretend that COVID-19 is beyond six degrees of separation. Hopefully it will remain so, as we live our separate lives.
(If you're not familiar with the "Six Degrees of Kevin Bacon", here's a link that explains the game. There is also an interesting play/ movie called "Six Degrees of Separation"--not meant for children. This is all based on the premise that we are all connected within six degrees of separation--hence the need for social distancing during a pandemic.)
I love the creative approach to not talking about something while talking about something - it's like an episode of Seinfeld but a bit darker. The image at the end is powerful, too and thinking about the degrees of separation from the virus is productive. Thank for this slice!
ReplyDeleteThank you! There was just no avoiding that elephant in the room...sigh.
DeleteIt's hard to get away from it, isn't it? Glad you are getting your steps in! I only managed to get in 3,700 today. :(
ReplyDeleteThat was my "day before", aggiekesler. Now if only I could really get this eating thing under control...hard when my "office" is only a stone's throw from the kitchen.
DeleteGreat form for slicing today, with the scale - gosh, do all roads of thought at present lead to CVID-19? Probably. Love that graphic as your frame of thinking. I saw another that really illustrated the power of and need for decreasing our contact with others ... with no social distance measures a person could infect 400+ people in 30 days. And - I wonder - what would we all be writing about in this challenge without COVID-19?? It is the lens that currently colors everything we see.
ReplyDeleteThe infection rate is exponential, which is why I harbor no ill feelings about staying in--just grateful that my situation in life allows me to do so with minimum disruption or worry. I agree that writing a non-COVID-19 piece is definitely a challenge!
DeleteI can certainly sympathize of struggling to write something not covid. So far, I have not been successful on that front too. But I love your idea of 6 degrees as a metaphor for social distancing. Thanks for sharing!
ReplyDeleteThank you for your kind comment, Christina! Funny--Kevin Bacon was just on the news after I wrote this, talking about the importance of separation these days and laughing about the game made at his expense.
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