chapter 6 -- alternatives

16/3/2020: The prime-minister mentioned three alternatives: (i) impose voluntary quarantine upon the weak and elderly, (2) do nothing, let everybody freely move around, (3) close the country down, in dutch -- leg nederland helemaal plat. Alternative (i) seems to be the most reasonable.

In a way, alternative (3) has my preference, but I recognize the old sentiments of my youth. Shut the system down, let me free! Ironically, after writing down the third and last option, I started writing in dutch, but I stopped myself in time, not only for the sake of communication, but also to prevent regression to long forgotten sentiments. Forgotten or denied, you choose!

17/3/2020: Watching online yoga course. Meant to support people in their distress, and struggle against the restrictions on their life, imposed by the measures taken to fight the corona pandemic. The virus has an impact on our life, emotionally, but also financially and in a broader sense our attitude towards life, and of course the issues that arise, such as how to obtain the necessary supplies, and for many, most importantly, how to deal with the children, that is, more generally, to keep life meaningful, and not to get lost in empty consumption and boredom. For that reason, I bought a bike, yesterday, and we did a twenty kilometer bike-tour today. Not a bad beginning, good to have some aerobic exercise, and a sustainable solution to regularly go outside in the coming period, when the weather allows.

We are still watching the online yoga course. You may turn on the light she said, we are invisible. So, after all, at the end of the day, I received my favorite superpower, I am invisible, and may turn on the light. Now, as also admonished by the online course, keep breathing and enjoy life!

18/3/2020: To keep it short, finally my financial affairs are arranged, or should I say, financially, finally everything is settled, that is, I sold the stocks and was able to put the money on my saving account, available for immediate spending. With the admonition -- please observe silence -- under the heading of-- corona virus, mind virus, media virus -- I made what could likely be my last post on facebook, with in a way a bad taste of all the moralistic and opportunistic messages that currently appear in the social media. Perhaps it is time to apply social distancing to the media as well, the social media, that is. To be clear, I have almost forgotten everything about the other media.

Interestingly, this period of quarantine seems also refreshing to many people. How many I do not know, but today it was explicitly mentioned for the second time! And the truth is, however confronting, there is perhaps a necessity, that is, perhaps it is time for a drastic reorientation of our personal lives and society. Not strictly personal for me, but in a general way, how we think about the values that govern our life, with respect to lifestyle, the role of institutions, and the goals we set ourselves. Blah, blah. I know. Enough bullshit. Please observe silence!