Just going to say it. I’m frightened! I’m frightened, and I think have good reason to be. We’ve only just made it past January, and here in New South Wales, we’ve been advised to wear a face mask for most of 2020.
First against the shocking air quality as a result of bushfires around Australia which have destroyed more than 2,000 homes and claimed the lives of 33 people, and now as a means of protection against the coronavirus which is spreading at a rapid rate after originating in China, and has no vaccine.
In parts of Eastern Africa, locust plagues of biblical proportions are ravaging farms and therefore food supplies of an already vulnerable and hungry population. There are so many of the insects that the UN Food and Agricultural Organisation reports the swarms could leave millions without food.
Of course, there’s plenty of good in the world to focus on and continue talking about, and it’s important to engage in conversations of positivity in the wake of disaster — but there’s no denying all of the above has caused mass panic.
I’m starting to wonder if doomsday preppers really had the right idea in stashing supplies and building shelters. Kim Kardashian West recently shared a post on Instagram Stories promoting Ready Judy, a US-based service that puts together emergency prep kits.
I once watched a show on doomsday prepping. A family in middle America had built a fenced-in compound with enough food to last them 40 years, and I was amused! I laughed at their convoluted plan was (given their defenses were primarily designed against zombies), but now I know better.
Maybe it’s time I start stockpiling water and canned food. Maybe it’s time I purchased my own HAZMAT suit and purchased a supply of face masks (when they come back in stock). Maybe it’s time I began collecting batteries, Jerry cans, and loading up my e-reader with the 10,000 books it can store — because it’ll get pretty boring when the electricity goes out.
Now I know none of this is funny. I know that and you know that, too. But they say humour is a coping mechanism. And so here I am. Coping.