While Everyone Else Stockpiled Toilet Paper, I Stockpiled Library Books

Last Thursday, I stood at a park downtown with a friend of mine, talking about all of the hysteria surrounding COVID-19. As the sun shone and our kids scrambled up and down the hills, we discussed the response of so many people in other parts of the country. The nation was going crazy, but at least Oklahoma wasn't panicking. 

The next morning, my kids and I strolled through the doors of the library, eager for the "parachute play" program. A sign came into view, announcing the cancellation of all library programs. Well, I guess that makes sense-but at least the library is still open! We spent a lovely hour at the library looking at books, playing on the colorful rugs (since all of the toys were taken out) and chatting with the librarians. The whole environment felt like a ghost town, but it was still our beloved library and felt like another home. One of the librarians mentioned to me that she doubted that the system would close, but just in case I decided to grab an extra (thick) novel. My children grabbed book after book after book, and we hauled a huge stack home. On Sunday evening, once the kids were in bed, I sat down at my computer. I'm going to request a bunch more books, just to ensure that I have enough books in case the system closes down, I thought. 

An e-mail announcing the closure of all public libraries ("out of an abundance of caution") blasted my cheery mood. I checked my account to see that two books that I put on hold weeks ago are "in transit"-and thinking about those books sitting in limbo for the next two weeks (at least) when I could be reading them made me even sadder. The chaos that is clutching this culture is getting a little out of hand. After Mass on Sunday, some people mentioned to me that they think a huge contributor to the societal panic is social media. I believe it.

I'm trying to remind myself that in the grand scheme of the world's events, the library's closure will not destroy my life. Yes, this totally wrecks our weekly schedule, but we'll be okay and it's a small sacrifice to make for the sake of helping our community. 

Since I won't be able to check physical books out from the library, I guess I have

a good motivation to get to these books-some of which I haven't read, and some of 

which I really need to pick up again! And if I need more material after these,

I do own a huge Russian novel that I haven't read from college.

I'm not anxious for our household in this time of the virus (we're all very low-risk and there doesn't seem to be much danger here in Oklahoma), but I do know that many people are experiencing health problems (especially those who are elderly and/or have preexisting health conditions) or a complete disruption of school, work, and/or finances during this time. Plus, with the public libraries closed (and terrible weather forecasted for this entire week) I have no idea where some of the homeless people-who ordinarily visit our library-will go.

I did our weekly grocery shopping with the kids, and it was a little mind-boggling to see how much was gone. While there was still plenty of food (and toilet paper, for all the people who are obsessing over that right now), several aisles were missing huge chunks of food. The section of bottled water was cleaned out. The Pillsbury refrigerator rolls were almost cleaned out, and the cereal aisle looked like a tornado had blown through it. I feel like I'm in a dystopian novel or on the set of The Walking Dead (minus the zombies, thankfully). 

Incidentally, I've been thinking of TWD a little bit (even though I stopped watching that show a long time ago). One of the aspects I didn't like was when the characters stopped working together, and instead began fighting and killing each other. How stupid is that? I'd think. There's this mess and tragedy, why can't they keep helping each other? I'm seeing shades of that same thing happening right now, and it's sobering. Especially online, people are being so quick to attack everyone from bishops to government leaders to random people-if they think that these other people aren't being "cautious enough." I think we'd all do a lot of good to take some deep breaths, say a prayer, step away from social media for a moment (or several) and maybe remember that we could try working together in this mess. 

On a final note, I also think it'd do a lot of good if we all took to heart some advice from Elizabeth's recent post on Coronavirus: "keep in mind that laughter is healing and stress is weakening!"