The Regular Crowd Down the Street--One Responsible, One Not

It's getting to be regular, like they always were. Happy hour has returned.

The place is just half a block from the back alley of my apartment building. It's the easiest, most unencumbered way back into civilization. The front way has a security door and a different key to open it, so why use it? The back door is the way out to the parking lot where my car is, anyhow.

At five or six o'clock on weekdays, now, they are there--at least six, up to a dozen, people drinking at happy hour. They're outside, I'm guessing, because of the pandemic, and someone told them that being outside is better than being inside.

But that alone doesn't make them immune. They're standing right next to each other. Not a single one of them has ever worn a mask. The summer air is hanging closer now with the humidity. Some are now familiar, at a glance.

Here's a perfect example of the denial that has overtaken so many of us. I'm not gonna get it, and if I get it, how bad could it be?

The age grouping varies. Obviously, they're younger than I am, but some aren't younger by all that much. They've been around. They should have understood by now.

I don't want any of them to die. I don't want any of them to get sick, either, but I'm wondering how close to the edge they're getting.

I see them gather when I go out for my daily walk, which is about that time. I steer away from them, not walking amongst them. I go out on the street to maintain my distancing. Only thing I can do.

They seem to be having a great time. I must say I miss that. I can strike up a conversation with damn near anybody, and that gathering, as most bars are, is ripe for the kind of conversation that can get you through lonely times like this one.

So it's tempting, because I haven't had a good face-to-face conversation in a while. But not that tempting. Science is science. Enter stage Clint Eastwood: A man's got to know his limitations.

These people miss it, too, which is why they're there. But like thousands of others, they're risking their noses to save their faces. They can't stand waiting until the coast is a bit clearer. So it never clears.

The risk is obvious, and getting more dangerous by the day. Looks like there's another surge about to begin. Goody gumdrops.

There are several restaurants along the way with bistro dining. The tables have been separated to cooperate with social distancing. The people, though, sit easily within spreading distance, without masks; six at at time in some places. So what is being accomplished, besides scratching another itch? I miss restaurants, too, but not so much as to get sick from them. Order out if you have to, but don't arrange another way to catch the virus. The odds are better outside, but not foolproof.

The governor of Texas, who believes business must be business like a good, indoctrinated Republican, tried to make people happy by opening up bars and other establishments so that the economy of that state wouldn't tank. The state is now being overrun. Now he's making people wear masks in public, or risk a $250 fine.

The number of new cases of the virus in Texas are setting records daily. Lots of people will now stay indoors. And the economy will tank. He had to cancel advancing the re-opening. He gave in to anxious people who were losing money and got some through a federal government which may have to re-gear and give them more. But nobody knows where that's coming from. Or when.

In Wisconsin, the state supreme court has tied our governor's hands by overruling his safe-at-home, gradual re-opening, and now we're trapped. Now the governor can't do anything. He called it right: It's now the Wild West. All he can say is what he's saying: It's July 4 now, and you'd better be careful out there. I know you want to get together, but you really shouldn't. You are risking big, big trouble.

That sounds like a parent confronting a child who's dating at 14. And the message will go about that far. The people at that bar aren't acting like adults, either: That's why the bar's there, so they can have an hour or two where they don't have to do that. But now irresponsibility won't disappear into the air as it always used to, catching up with only the perpetrators: It will spread to others, whether they like it or not.

But all is not lost. A bit farther down the street, right around the corner on Downer Avenue, is a hardware store. Been there for ages, like the grocer and the movie house. But it has a sign on it, right at eye-level which can't be missed. To summarize: If you walk in here without a mask, we will not service you.

Seems to me that that's the right approach, both specifically and in general: If the state supreme court wants to protect business because that's the way America should run, then businesses have been allowed, and should take the liberty, to protect themselves. Anybody who lives so irresponsibly as to put others at risk inside a store, where people are merely working and are literally trapped against the vicissitudes of the public, can take their business elsewhere.

We're not shutting our doors, it's saying, but if you're a stupid jerk, we'd rather not deal with you. We're free, yes, and just as free to stop this crap from coming in here.

That way, business can continue to function. That way, greater shutdowns might not happen, voluntary or not. But they have to do it, or they will cut their own throats this time, and there will be fewer with empathy for them. And there will be far more trouble with shortages.

If the business community takes that up and unites in a temporary collusion (not all are bad things, you know) to protect the public from itself, that might get others to wake up, grow up, and stop or slow down what appears to be a new surge. You can't make money if people are home sick. Simple as that.

Most of us managed to get to this July 4th, alive and safe. Let's be smart about getting to the next one, too.

Be well. Be careful. Wear a mask. With some luck, I'll see you down the road.


Mister Mark