So today I was in the office, and I stopped over at the service desk to talk to a few of the guys that have been really amazing since I started - I walked directly up to DJ and told him I was once again mistaken for someone else for the third time in a week (albeit no more touching incidents) and did he know of any other chunky butch looking women on base that I look like....
He laughed and said, "No" so I asked him about the LONG line of people at the closed gym across the street. It's been locked and shuttered like everything else for weeks now, but there's a huge line of people pretending to social distance as they wait.
Speculation was that it might be COVID testing for soldiers.
Here's where things got weird - one of the guys that works at the Service Desk that I don't know very well (I'm gonna call him Steve) started spouting off about how people should not be FORCED to be tested for the virus, because it was an invasive test and a violation of his personal rights. "Besides - what if they found out I DO have COVID? Then what? Are they going to treat me? No, they're going to put me in isolation which is an even BIGGER violation of my personal rights."
I said, "No, Steve - it's to keep you away from people like me, who have no immune system and can't fight the virus."
Steve: "Nature has been weeding out the weak for centuries. Why should the entire economy implode? Why should I be forced to lose money from working just because you're vulnerable? Think of it like this - my mother is sick and needs a new kidney. SHE KNOWS better than to ask me because she knows my answer. She's had diabetes for twenty years - she's had ample time to change her life and change her behavior and she hasn't. So why should I be inconvenienced because of it? Not going to happen."
Me: "But I have cancer....."
Steve: "Cancer is primarily caused by people who are either drinking too much, smoking too much or eating too many trans fats. It's actions and consequences. Your actions shouldn't cause ME consequences."
Me: <throwing my hands up> "I'm out."
Because I had NOTHING I could think of to say. There is NOTHING that would infiltrate this man's concrete solid belief that my cancer is a curse to everyone here on base, and I should basically just fall on my sword for the good of mankind (and the stock market.)
I spend 11 hours in my office and 13 hours in my room each day. I don't go to the mess hall, I don't go watch the sports games, I don't hang out with other people, I don't casually peruse the library. I don't visit one of the many "unofficial" gyms that have popped up since they closed the official ones - I literally try not to do ANYTHING that could expose me to germs that could kill me. I don't want to inconvenience ANYBODY - I absolutely agree that we need to be creative and think of ways so lives aren't completely destroyed by unemployment - even for me, where my life is on the line, these are NOT black or white issues.
All I'm asking is that you let me do everything that I can - and you don't interfere with that. If you want to go to the beach. Or go to Starbucks. Or go mingle with your homies. I get it. Just DO. NOT. COME. ANYWHERE. NEAR. ME. Wash your hands appropriately before you enter the DFAC or the PX. Wear your mask anywhere that we are within six feet - and celebrate not wearing it when you're on a walk alone away from others.
Live and let live!
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