Apocalypse Fatigue: Why Won't At-Risk Boomers Panic About the Wuhan Virus?

Ace of Spades HQ ^ | 3-19-20 | Buck Throckmorton

[skimbell]

In the past week, a story that keeps getting written and re-written by young journalists is the stubborn refusal of older Americans to panic about the Wuhan Virus. Pretty much every story reads: “Why is it that a healthy young American like me - in the demographic most likely to survive Coronavirus – is panicking

[Harmless Teddy Bear]

Now that is true.

[Big Red Badger]

Boomer Here,
I’m Mad Dog Angry
At All this Damn
Hand Washing Radio
Spots and Closures!
I don’t except this
Spirit of Fear!
It saps Your strength
Now to Worry about
Tomorrow!
We Need Strength to
Get through these
Kinds of Trials.
Do Your
“Due Diligence”
But consider that
This is An Attack!
Whether it’s this
Virus or an enemy
On Our Culture or
Mindset.
Get Mad,
Damn It!

[metmom]

Panic if you are going to meet death without being in Christ. That is worthy of panic for those without Christ - and should cause one to repent and to seek the Lord with all their heart while they are on this side of the grave.

Honestly, I think that's what's behind all the panic.

People are being confronted with their own mortality and they are terrified.

[metmom]

I remember that style coat room, too.

[Boomer]

Full Discloser: This is not mine, I saw it on FB and it moved me so much that I wanted to share it.

I talked to a man today

I talked with a man today, an 80+ year old man. I asked him if there was anything I can get him while this Coronavirus scare was gripping America.

He simply smiled, looked away and said:

"Let me tell you what I need! I need to believe, at some point, this country my generation fought for... I need to believe this nation we handed safely to our children and their children...

I need to know this generation will quit being a bunch of sissies...that they respect what they've been given...that they've earned what others sacrificed for."

I wasn't sure where the conversation was going or if it was going anywhere at all. So, I sat there, quietly observing.

"You know, I was a little boy during WWII. Those were scary days. We didn't know if we were going to be speaking English, German or Japanese at the end of the war. There was no certainty, no guarantees like Americans enjoy today.

And no home went without sacrifice or loss. Every house, up and down every street, had someone in harm's way. Maybe their Daddy was a soldier, maybe their son was a sailor, maybe it was an uncle. Sometimes it was the whole damn family...fathers, sons, uncles...

Having someone, you love, sent off to war...it wasn't less frightening than it is today. It was scary as Hell. If anything, it was more frightening. We didn't have battle front news. We didn't have email or cellphones. You sent them away and you hoped...you prayed. You may not hear from them for months, if ever. Sometimes a mother was getting her son's letters the same day Dad was comforting her over their child's death.

And we sacrificed. You couldn't buy things. Everything was rationed. You were only allowed so much milk per month, only so much bread, toilet paper. EVERYTHING was restricted for the war effort. And what you weren't using, what you didn't need, things you threw away, they were saved and sorted for the war effort. My generation was the original recycling movement in America.

And we had viruses back then...serious viruses. Things like polio, measles, and such. It was nothing to walk to school and pass a house or two that was quarantined. We didn't shut down our schools. We didn't shut down our cities. We carried on, without masks, without hand sanitizer. And do you know what? We persevered. We overcame. We didn't attack our President, we came together. We rallied around the flag for the war. Thick or thin, we were in it to win. And we would lose more boys in an hour of combat than we lose in entire wars today."

He slowly looked away again. Maybe I saw a small tear in the corner of his eye. Then he continued:

"Today's kids don't know sacrifice. They think a sacrifice is not having coverage on their phone while they freely drive across the country. Today's kids are selfish and spoiled. In my generation, we looked out for our elders. We helped out with single moms who's husbands were either at war or dead from war. Today's kids rush the store, buying everything they can...no concern for anyone but themselves. It's shameful the way Americans behave these days. None of them deserve the sacrifices their granddads made.

So, no I don't need anything. I appreciate your offer but, I know I've been through worse things than this virus. But maybe I should be asking you, what can I do to help you? Do you have enough pop to get through this, enough steak? Will you be able to survive with 113 channels on your tv?"

I smiled, fighting back a tear of my own...now humbled by a man in his 80's. All I could do was thank him for the history lesson, leave my number for emergency and leave with my ego firmly tucked in my rear.

I talked to a man today. A real man. An American man from an era long gone and forgotten. We will never understand the sacrifices. We will never fully earn their sacrifices. But we should work harder to learn about them..learn from them...to respect them.

[Conservative4Ever]

Oh yeah, i had forgotten about alar apples. Yeah, I’m a boomer and I’m just shaken my head.

[Verginius Rufus]

Pelosi will be 80 in a few days, so she is not a baby boomer. Not the only one to use botox but the poster child for the procedure.

[eyedigress]

You walked in the front and took your seat out of the back.

That will never be seen again.

[CJ Wolf]

If you are that old you likly still have magazines delivered.

[ladyjane]

The kids down partying in Florida - the Selfish Generation.

[nascarnation]

You’re right.
Hot Rod
Machine Design
Kiplingers

[Charles Martel]

Hang on now, whose generation is currently ignoring the social distancing recommendations at Spring Break? Just sayin’.

[tomkat]

That, FRiend, was wonderful .. thank you !

[RummyChick]

oh yeah..hadnt thought of that..new generation is digital

[Oatka]

[Sidebar] had to get a VA blood test at a local hospital. Was met at the door by a young nurse who swiped my brow to take my temperature, then gave me a shot of hand sanitizer. I mentioned to her there was a lot of hysteria going on and she just nodded "yes".
Inside, I talked with another young nurse as she drew blood and mentioned that I was sick and tired of all the Media hype about the virus. She replied "Me too." That was encouraging as it's telling me the younger generation recognizes what is going on.

[Jamestown1630]

I receive 'Imprimus' in the mailbox every month. Hillsdale is kind to us old codgers.

(But my professional colleagues still all receive their journals in hard, heavy copy, by US Mail.)

[Hattie]

We didn’t have a car so we rode the bus to town. And all the air raid bomb shelters were everywhere. We also had black window shades and would pull them down when the sirens went off for drills.

[TigersEye]

I don’t know about other Boomers but I learned a long time ago that panicking almost guarantees that whatever situation you’re facing will get a lot worse fast.

If Millennials or whatever don’t think so they should give panic a whirl and see how that works. There is nothing like sticking a fork in the wall socket to learn a lesson. :)

[Jamestown1630]

I stuck my finger in a live lamp socket once, when I was tiny.

A burnt child fears the fire.

[matt04]

Deepwater Horizon.