I’m a single, Jewish woman who lives by myself with my dog in NYC. None of my family members live with me. My parents live in Arizona. One of my brothers lives on the other side of the city, the other lives in the DC suburbs.
Other than in passing, by phone, or virtually, I have not spent time in person with anyone else since March 14, the last day my firm was allowed to work in our offices.
Here’s a fun, non-exhaustive list of what I have had to celebrate alone or what I haven’t been able to be with family, friends, or anyone else for SO FAR: Passover (do you know what a solo-seder is like? it’s not fun!), my mother’s 78th birthday (don’t kill me mom), July 4, both my brothers’ birthdays, my father’s 82nd birthday, my parents’ wedding anniversary, Rosh Hashanah, my 36th birthday, Yom Kippur, Sukkot, Halloween, 34 shabbats.
Next week, instead of flying to Phoenix like I usually do, I’m spending Thanksgiving alone. And I’m probably spending Hannukah alone as well. And you know why? People like me are trying to be selfless because we want as few people to die or get sick as possible. People like you are selfish and care only about instant gratification and not how your actions affect other people’s lives and health.
And it didn’t have to be this way! We didn’t have to have 250,000+ people dead in 8 months. So spare me the whole “government is trying to take your rights away and shut down our right to go to church and cancel Christmas” nonsense.
No one’s taking your rights away, you’re taking other’s lives away.
