Recently, while browsing the web for instant wisdom on how to overcome this pandemic, I came across an on-line writer who offered his take on how to isolate oneself and “profit” from the experience. Always I insisted that my students, when I was teaching, cite their sources. Inspiration for this entry came from a Daniel Buck, writing online for Townhall.
His eight step regimen looks good until you dive into the details. With thanks to his insights, I will now refute and/or confirm his attempt to calm the still waters. Here was his eight step regimen to come out of our self-imposed quarantine and still be sane.
Tips on how to isolate well
1. Have a daily schedule
2. Set small goals
3. Get out of the house
4. Wake up and dress up
5. Take time to relax
6. Keep a journal
7. Find a hobby
8. Seek professional assistance
My take on this will be a refutation of most of his points, beginning with his attempt to equate his self-imposed isolation with the government’s mandatory stay at home order. The two are not analogous.
If Mr. Buck’s first point is his start, he missed the equivalent “eephus” pitch of legend and lore in baseball. This novelty pitch, used often in the early days of professional baseball, was thrown on an arc of up to 25 feet, falling gently across home plate in the strike zone. Hitters would see the slow descent and gear up for a might swing (aka Casey at the bat) to smash it over the wall in the outfield. Truitt “Rip” Sewell of the Pittsburgh Pirates brought it back after a forty-year absence in 1942, and was successful until Ted Williams in the 1946 All-Star Game hit a long two-run homer. l
Mr. Buck’s essay would have been much more powerful had he seen the slow to hit real first point in surviving the coronavirus pandemic. Since this will entail some history (I love this!) perhaps he needs a primer in the American past.
Real isolation was evident in those first few hardy pioneers to these hallowed shores. Pilgrims, Quakers, the Jamestown settlers left completely their homes, their families, their neighbors and knew they would never see them again. How did they survive this almost total isolation? Because these people had faith and practiced their faith as they saw fit. Those who pushed westward across the American landscape did the same. We live in Edgar County in Illinois. A state in 1818, the county was created in 1823 with Paris as its county seat also in 1823. As you travel US 150 west into Illinois, about four miles along is a small monment commemorating the first church built in the state, built in 1826. This is not an anomaly, for one of the first buildings erected in the early towns in Illinois and in states to the west was a church building, used on Sunday for services and during the week many were used as schoolhouses.
At every critical juncture in our history, Americans have turned their focus upwards to God first, in order to survive the crises facing our nation. Abraham Lincoln famously wrote that both sides prayed during the Civil War. World Wars 1 and 2 found people first on their knees. Churches were filled with special services after the World Trade Centers were attacked in 2001. If all those who claim to be Christian or religious would begin each day really dedicated to surviving this pandemic would pray, perhaps some calm would enter their life as they do what practical things are needed.
People will die, and are dying, because of the COVID19 virus. I will address Mr. Buck’s other points in another post, but honor our history, our heritage, our nation’s strength by first looking to God for help.