It's All About Me

That's right. It's all about me.

The coronavirus pandemic is all about me. It's a real inconvenience for me. I need to buy a truckload of supplies right now. Sadly, this seems to be a prevalent attitude among Americans as we stumble and bumble our way through the coronavirus pandemic.

• It's all about me, so I'm going to buy a 2-year supply of toilet paper. 
• It's all about me, so I'm going to buy all the hand sanitizer I can get my hands on. 
• It's all about me, so I'm going to continue going out in public even if I don't feel well. 
• It's all about me, so I will buy all the bottled water I can find. 
• It's all about me, so I will buy massive quantities of rubber gloves and masks. 
• It's all about me, so I will steal the hand sanitizer from the doctor's office or hospital. 
• It's all about me, and I don't need to wash my hands all the time. 
• It's all about me, so I'm not going to sneeze into my elbow. That's just gross.  
• It's all about me. I bought what I need, and others can do the same. 
• It's all about me. It's not my problem if stores run out of some items.
• It's all about me. I'm going to buy nearly 18,000 bottles of hand sanitizer and then sell them at exorbitant prices on Amazon and eBay. (Two brothers did this, but Amazon and eBay shut down their extortion and now they are stuck with thousands of bottles of hand sanitizer they can't sell).

No, it isn't all about you. It isn't all about me. It's about all of us. It's about the poor and the elderly and the sick. It's about the young and the strong and the healthy. It's about medical personnel struggling to care for the ill and running out of supplies from masks to ventilators.

We can defeat this pandemic and minimize the loss of life only if we all work together. There are enough supplies to go around if all of us act responsibly and don't hoard. (Do we really need to have police offers controlling access to toilet paper at WalMart?) Buy what you need, and have enough supplies on hand to last a couple of weeks should you need to be quarantined at home. Leave some for others!

Wash your hands frequently. Stay home as much as possible. And remember, this virus impacts everybody. Please act like a member of a community and not like a self-entitled diva. Be kind. Be helpful. Be compassionate. Be a better person.