Each and every PSA that’s come across the internet at this point kind of says the same thing, but at the very least we’re hearing it from many different people which is indicative of the fact that celebrities are 1) paying attention to the seriousness of the coronavirus and 2) bored out of their skulls if they’re coming up with new ways to say the same old thing. This time with the Washmen instead of The Watchmen it’s something pretty equally silly but at the same time something that fans might enjoy since without new stimulation it’s likely that some folks are needing a bit of an entertainment high to really get them going and keep them on track. Halle Kiefer of Vulture has more to say on this matter. It’s definitely come down to this, that people feel the need to enjoy something that we might have ignored a while back because a lot of us know to wash our hands when they’re dirty since we were taught as children. But thinking that we need celebrities to tell us to wash our hands, repeatedly, is becoming something of a droning sound in the background that only starts to gain clarity the closer one gets to it and the longer they listen. In a big way the celebrities are going just as stir crazy as the rest of the populace that are observing the quarantine procedures since they don’t have an essential job that keeps them busy and out of the house.
Washing your hands is one of those lessons we’re given when we’re young and apparently a lot of us forget for one reason or another once we get older. It’s also something that people are doing their absolute best to push at the moment since everything we touch carries a boatload of germs and bacteria and in this current crisis that’s a death sentence for some and a problem for many others. The coronavirus has been seen to affect many people and in some it shows no symptoms whatsoever, but to those that are highly susceptible due to age and/or immune deficiencies it’s a real threat since it could land them in the hospital or worse. The problem with landing in the hospital at this moment however is that many of them are already overworked and entirely too full with people that have a genuine need for the emergency services that are being doled out, as some hospitals are at full capacity and simply can’t take any more people. Various locations have been converted to hospital areas that have been set up to help those that are unfortunately being turned away and even those have started to fill up if they haven’t already. If there’s anyone out there thinking that the COVID-19 virus still isn’t something to worry about then they need a serious reality check, a bar of soap, and someone to keep their butt by the sink until they get the hang of washing their hands for at least twenty seconds or so. Some people might gripe that doing this several times a day eats into their otherwise productive life, but it’s important to remind them once again that it’s not just about them in this case, but the many people that they might interact with that could possibly contract the disease if they’re not careful.
Twenty seconds doesn’t sound like a lot, does it? But if you try to stand still for twenty seconds without doing or saying anything it might feel like a lifetime if only because it’s longer than many of us go without saying something, doing something, or without even having a thought run through our heads. Writers are just as susceptible to this as anyone since there are moments when it might not appear that we’re doing much, in fact it might look as though we’re staring off blankly into space. But that’s largely because, with some of us at least, our mind is traversing light years in the span of a few seconds as we try to figure out the rambling mess in our heads and how to best turn it into something we can put on the page. Twenty seconds of absolute nothing, of doing nothing, saying nothing, and thinking of nothing, is hard for any individual in this day and age since some folks might be able to make it a few seconds or even ten without having to move or speak, but others will need to find some way to announce their presence or otherwise confirm that they are still a real person in some way. Susan Dominus of The New York Times has her own opinion on hte matter. Twenty seconds washing your hands is not a hardship, nor is it all that difficult to think about doing a few times a day during a pandemic that promotes a skill that we learn when we’re so young. So listening to these PSA’s might get old, but following their advice is pretty sound.
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