Well, today, I think I royally fucked up. But, it was worth it.
Today, while I was out shopping, I noticed a woman wandering the Cub grocery parking lot with her 10 year old boy. I noticed her because the boy was asleep, laying in the cart with a bag of groceries.
A half and hour later, I came out and they were still there. The woman was genuinely distressed. I approached her and asked if her son was okay. She said that he was exhausted. They’d just arrived from Toronto, after a stressful ride, was hit with the heat and had no place to stay for the night. She said her son was worn out from the stress and heat. She had money for a room for the night, but it was in Canadian Dollars and she couldn’t find a way to convert them to US. The manager at Cub said that couldn’t exchange currency.
She had already talked with Cornerstone, a local organization that helps homeless and distressed families, and they’d have a place for them tomorrow. But today and tonight, she had nowhere to go, unless she could change her cash.
We tried to come up with a plan. Eventually, I drove her and her son to a local Wells Fargo where she tried to exchange her money. Her son had curled up in the back of my car and was sound asleep. The bank wouldn’t do the exchange because she didn’t have an account. She asked several people in line for service if they would help her. Not surprisingly, no one would. I wouldn’t have unless I’d seen her desperation.
As a last attempt, I thought to use the ATM to get money from my account. However, it has been so long since I’ve used an ATM, no one handles cash any more, that I’d forgotten my Pin #. After a couple of trys I quit before my card was frozen.
With no other ideas, I drove them back to the Cub parking lot. Once there, the woman had a hard time waking her son and getting him out of the car. He complained of a headache. I’ve had headaches from being stressed and over heated, so I didn’t think much about it.
Later, as I pulled into my garage I got a sinking feeling. The boy had classic symptoms for COVID-19 and I hadn’t noticed. I had spent over an hour with him and his mother. Neither wore masks and, while I had worn one the whole time, that really didn’t matter. The mask was to prevent me from contaminating someone else, not the other way around. Fucked Up!
I promptly went in and took a long hot shower and put all my clothes in the wash basket. They’ll get cleaned tomorrow. I’ll spray the car with disinfectant and let the car set for a few days.
I called my buddy Shawn, who works with homeless and distressed people, and told him what had happened. He called people he knew and they will go out tomorrow to contact people at Wells Fargo and Cub.
I called Cornerstone’s hotline and filled them in on my experience and concern that the boy was seriously ill and needed help.
Now, I’ve started my 14 day countdown to see if I’ve got the virus. Luckily, I’d picked up my supplies before interacting with the woman and her son. Strict Self-Quarantine for me, you betcha.
There’s no point in worrying. Mother Nature and biology will run their course and I’ll see what I’ll see.
Would I change what I did? Nope. Life always has risks, whether I’m aware of them or not. I saw someone in pain and I acted from my heart. Isn’t that what a person is supposed to do?
It’s a sad world if people, when they see a woman and child in trouble, are afraid to do what comes naturally.
It’s a world created by an evil idea, a very sick man and a swarm of lick-spittles who enable both. The deaths and financial hardships from the virus were avoidable. What is happening in the United States is mass murder. It’s a Crime Against Humanity. The disdain for the well fair of the American people shown by Trump and the Republican’s is criminal. It is cold blooded murder that must be treated as such.
Trump, the officials, financial backers and propagandists who have encouraged and enabled him, deserve life in prison, doing hard-time. Their Coup de Etat must be defeated once and for all and their weapons of racism and elitism shattered, if we are to regain our souls and the promise of Life, Liberty and the Pursuit of Happiness the reality for all Americans.
The Confederacy went down in flames once before. It shall again.
Revised 06/20/2020 for corrections and readability.