DON'T PANIC with apologies to Theodore Geisel

[victoriavictrix]

By Mercedes Lackey

You cannot get it from a box

You cannot get it from a fox

You cannot get it from a cat

You cannot get it from a rat

You cannot get it from a dog

You cannot get it from a log

You cannot get it from a veg

Or sitting on a window ledge

You cannot get it from a fruit

Or from a mouse, however cute

Or get it from someone Chinese*

You sure can get it from a sneeze

Or touching things and then your face

Or any contaminated place

A face-mask will not help you, Sam

And you don’t want it, Sam-I-Am

So wash your hands at every chance

Instead of touching things, just glance

And do not panic, jeez, that’s dumb.

Cause panic will not help you, chum.


*And quit lumping every East Asian into the category of “Chinese” because they have epicanthal folds.

Please feel free to share

[Kirahfaye]

You are a star, Misty!

[maywong]

Thanks for poem. I need to share this.

[Iwa_Hoshi]

Lol. Cute.

You guys over there take care as well.

Edit -
Take care not let your anxiety push you into panic mode. Its very scary when you're doing your regular gorcery run and people were loading their carts.

I was scrambling to check my phone to see if some kind of important message was release between breakfast news and said gorcery run (no lock down, thankfully)

[Kirahfaye]

I had to stock up on some items because of my 85 year old mom - can't be running back and forth to the store in the best of times, let alone a pandemic situation. Anyway, I told the cashier that people would be back in 2 1/2 weeks to return all the stuff they were overbuying today. She laughed. But, I'm probably right.

LOL and facepalm.

[Iwa_Hoshi]

Yeah
.i understand situation with your mom.

Anyway, I told the cashier that people would be back in 2 1/2 weeks to return all the stuff they were overbuying today. She laughed. But, I'm probably right.

LOL and facepalm.

That did happened here and some of the chain stores decline returns. And then our local residents committee put up banners to encourage folks to donate excess food /medical supplies.

[kenaiqueen]

Good one! Not going to worry about something I can't control. Already wash my hands a lot and will continue to do so. I'll be off work for at least a week and maybe more. Time to get in some reading and maybe a larger project or two around the house.

[victoriavictrix]

OK, I wish I could remember what psychologist told me this, but there is a brain reason why toilet paper. It comes at the intersection of "Oh my god I need to stock up on supplies to stay safe!" and "Oh my god, I might not be working I need to save money to stay safe!"

At that intersection of two panic points is: the cheapest thing you can stock up on for the largest visible result is toilet paper.

And your brain interprets this as toilet paper = safety.

Brains are weird.

[DollyKim]

Wash your damn hands with soap, clean up after yourself, just pretend everyone else has cooties. Take a hint from people with neurodivergences who don't like to touch things because it feels "bad" and don't go around handling everything and shaking hands.

If in the nearly 10 years of my living where I am surrounded by poultry, children, and people with substance abuse problems in various stages of cleanliness, frequent thrift and discount stores and a family members goes to food distribution, and another one has to share their sneezes, coughs, and have someone on top of them to make sure they wash their hands and only had one, maybe two things at worse I could describe as a flu I think y'all are going to survive.

[Kattriella]

I can't stand my hands feeling dirty, so I wash them constantly, even at work (especially at work).

Also, a tip for my fellow ladies: Wash your hands BEFORE you use the bathroom too, because the magical caves below are also a mucus membrane, just so you know. It's a habit I've gotten myself into over the last several years, and it's not a bad one to have.