Liquor Stores vs. Hobby Lobby
// Austin, TX • 2016 • I used to drag Josh to Hobby Lobby with me. Now he’s the one recommending we ‘take a date’ there. //
You say potato. I say potahto.
You say stay inside. I say go outside.
You say it’s for everyone’s health. I say it’s for everyone’s health.
You say, “Who made you the expert?” I say, “Who made you the expert?” At least we agree on a couple things. :)
Some say we waited too long to act. Some say we’re acting too strongly.
Some say less would have died. Some say, more are dying.
Some say we need to isolate. Some say herd immunity is the answer.
What’s the right answer? What’s the wrong answer?
What’s true? What’s false?
The truth is, no one except God will ever REALLY know. So let’s move on.
Who defines ‘essential’?
Because, let’s be real here. The essentials set in place aren’t quite right, in my opinion. Yes, we all need grocery stores, hospitals and gas stations. But, why is a liquor store deemed ‘essential’? That’s a rhetorical question — I sort of ‘get it’. But it’s not essential to me, because I don’t drink. But what is ‘essential’ to me is access to art stores — Hobby Lobby, to be exact.
I frequent their stores to get out of my computer, take a mental load off, be inspired and to dream up the next big project (for our small hospitality business ). Hobby Lobby is beneficial to my mental well being, and therefore, my overall health. So why then, is it okay for you to go to a liquor store, but artists can’t go to art stores?
// Austin, TX • 2016 • Hope Outdoor Gallery • #LiveaGreatStory. //
Back to alcohol — I don’t really care that people think they ‘need’ alcohol to get through this time, but I presume, based on my own uneducated assumption, that COVID fear + quarantine + job furloughs + income loss + increased alcohol consumption will =
more depression + increased alcoholism + weakened immune systems (the virus loves this!) + rise in domestic violence + who knows what else.
What I can also unprofessionally guarantee is that an increase in alcohol consumption will not lead to happiness, freedom, additional income, sobriety or safety for those same people over the coming weeks. So why again is alcohol (a depressant) deemed ‘essential’? Think about it…
So…
They say we need to social distance. Then a father gets arrested for playing t-ball — alone — with his daughter.
They say we need to social distance, but a lone paddle boarder gets arrested in Malibu.
We’re allowed into a grocery store one-by-one, but not a barber shop one-by-one?
Drive-in churches are being threatened by state officials FOR adhering to social distancing guidelines?
Because it’s about the ‘health’ of the country
Okay, cool. So if quarantine is all about the ‘health’ of the country then…
Let’s ban alcohol all together — it would save 88,000 lives every year.
Let’s ease up on people’s expectations at work resulting in stress related deaths — it would save 120,000 lives per year.
Let’s ban cigarettes, because 40,000 lives of secondhand smokers — people who DO NOT smoke — would be saved every year.
Let’s restrict speed limits, limit the number of vehicles allowed on the roads and maybe even start requiring corporations to work-from-home — it could save ~35,000 lives that are taken on the road every year.
Let’s get a handle on the piss-poor foods marketed to us — that we consume. Because 400,000 - 650,000 deaths related to nutrition and obesity illnesses (heart disease, diabetes, cancer) could be prevented each year.
Let’s start a quarantine every Dec - Feb when flu season hits — it could save 30,000 - 60,000 lives annually.
And let’s — once and forever — ban abortions. It would save 600,000+ babies from being brutally torn to shreds each year.
But none of this will ever happen, will it? Why? Because it’s all…too…outlandish (except the last one — but even that’s outlandish to some). We’ve quit thinking for ourselves. We’ve stopped relying on common sense. And we tuck our tail between our legs when authority walks into our lives. We’ve become a spineless people.
That’s okay though. Let’s just bow down to the quarantine orders, because while those lives are being saved, emotional support hotlines have increased, abuse hotlines have spiked and suicide calls have doubled in some states — people are anxious and hopeless. No shit.
So maybe the cure will end up being worse than the cause? How dumb would we feel then?
But let’s look on the bright side…because there is a BRIGHT side.
People are getting really creative! Whether it’s discovering new ways to pass time or coming up with ideas to add a fresh twist to something old, entrepreneurs are taking this opportunity to make new streams of income — like creating toilet paper earrings that have sold out the wazoo or charging $100 for Zoomers to bring a llama into their conference call (for 10 minutes, might I add)! Talk about a markup! Cha-ching!
Families are getting creative — like camping in each other’s yards and making phone calls, waving at each other through glass windows.
For those with money worries — no savings, multiple mortgages, big shiny boats and Beamers that have taken over — I’d like to believe many will use this as an opportunity to reinvent the way they manage money. This will be the event that changed their lives…forever.
“If you do not know how to care for money, money will stay away from you.”
And if you 9-5-ers out there get really creative, NOW is the time for many of you who’ve longed for more flexibility in your job (work from home, remote work days) to prove to your boss that it can be done! I’d like to believe more companies will become less stringent on this outdated (work from office) policy, post pandemic.
Our planet is breathing new life with humans having less access to destroy it. Wildlife is coming out to play in places they haven’t been for years. Things are looking to be okay.
Now, this all might sound like a pissy pant rant…it’s not. It’s really just a little bit of passion coming out — like that same passion that’s causing some of you to want to punch me through your screen right now. :)
I’m actually thoroughly enjoying and greatly appreciating this quarantine time. I’ve accomplished more ‘overdue’ goals in three weeks than the last five years. I’ve been reading, I’ve been writing, I’ve been FaceTiming — it’s been great. I’ve enjoyed being ‘trapped’ within the four walls of our tiny ~250 sq ft RV on this National Park land for 21 days and counting. I have nothing to complain about.
My fear though — is not some stupid virus — but is watching as ‘we the people’ (myself included) give up our freedoms little-by-little and very quickly.
“Let us not give up the habit of meeting together, as some are doing. Instead, let us encourage one another all the more, since you see that the Day of the Lord is coming nearer.”
I am no expert in health or economics, but I am an expert in common sense — it’s gotten me out of debt, around the globe and pretty far in life. And I do know that if we allow this quarantine to continue, to allow government officials to tell us how to live our lives out of fear we might be arrested or fined, to let tyranny take over and become the new ‘normal’, WE ALL WILL DIE — 330,000,000 of us will die. Our souls will die. Our livelihoods will die. Our hope will die. And eventually, our bodies will die.
I’ve upset some people along the way while sharing my fears — fears that didn’t align with theirs (virus fears). At first, I was trying to come up with a way to apologize, but I don’t feel an apology for expressing my concerns is due, just like I don’t expect anyone afraid of COVID to apologize to me for their fears. Instead, I decided to share some thoughts here — ask some questions and hopefully inspire some of you to start thinking for yourself again. You may not be an expert in world health, but you are an expert in your own life.
To conclude — I’m not against quarantining. So please don’t take all I’ve said here and twist it up to assume I’m not for some social responsibility — I am. But there needs to come a day (very soon) when we’re given a choice — those who are living in fear may continue to lock themselves inside, isolating themselves from the world and the rest of humanity (this too [isolation] has it’s own health risks and death rates) while those who wish to move past this, return to work, live their lives and immune themselves to what lies in the outside world should be allowed to do so too. It’s only constitutional.
So please, reconsider asking others to, “Stay inside. It could save a life.” Because if you REALLY believed that, you’d fight to put the alcohol industry out of business, you’d quit the job that stresses you out and you’d be front and center at the next Pro Life March in Washington D.C. But is any of that really going to happen?
