Chris' Christian Blog

April 26, 2020

Prompt: "How has your idea of lockdown/quarantine changed since the beginning of this month?"

I don't know that I like calling this "lockdown". It makes it sound like we are all in jail and we aren't. We're in quarantine for reasons of health. I do have to say that quarantine for me hasn't really been that much different. Yes. There are things that I did before that I cannot do now. I was going to the Salvation Army Huntington Corps to work every day and I'm no longer doing that. I still could be because the Corps is definitely open during this state of emergency and on disaster status. However my commander did not want me to take a chance on bringing COVID-19 back to the home I live in. The West Virginia Veterans Home where I live is an assisted living facility and we have over 80 people housed here. It wasn't worth risking their lives.

I am staying quite busy though. I sanitize the handrails, stairwell handrails, and doors throughout the building once per day with bleach water solution. That takes on average about two hours. Then I sit and write letters or read my textbooks. I'm fortunate enough to be a graduate student now so my textbooks are usually something I'm truly interested in. They aren't just classes I have to take to meet a requirement. Right now I'm 300 pages into a book on hermeneutics or Biblical interpretation. I don't always agree with what the author says, but sometimes they have to teach a point that even they disagree with because it is part of the curriculum. Aside from being written on a graduate school level and a slow read, the book is interesting.

I guess what I am saying is that aside from a few minor changes in schedule, this quarantine has not really slowed me down much. I still have plenty to keep me busy. I do my sanitizing. I have written letters to everybody on Snail Mail Forum who has a North American address, and I read. I also talk to a lot of people on the phone. As a chaplain I find that those conversations are often spiritual in nature or at the very least "helping" conversations. People need to vent and whether it is a professional relationship or not, I often find myself counseling them. I stay busy. Lockdown? What lockdown?