KODAK MOMENTS

Do you have in your memory any of what my brother calls Kodak Moments? They’re scenes that you always remember because they’re beautiful, heart-warming, amazing, or even startling? I added a little one, a thumbnail shot, to my own Kodak pix file this weekend.

I gassed up the car, I was on low, and because I was just across the way from Publix, and I thought to stop in for apples. I’m pretty well stocked up, but I’d forgotten to replenish the apple supply. I got more bananas too. As I turned down an aisle on my way to the checkout I came face to face with a gal wearing a surgical mask. It startled me a bit - wow! I’ll always remember that sight. I know that I'm taking this epidemic seriously, and I have evidence that others are too: empty shelves. But that was the first time I'd encountered someone with a real sense of self-protection.

Someone here in suburban Indian Land is really taking all this COVID-19 seriously. She can’t know who might already have it, so she’s covering herself - in more ways than one. It’s really here. The virus is here, and masks, though the CDC an the FDA say they aren't necessary or truly effective, will soon become de rigueur. I’m thinking that those Muslim gals who wear the niqab are way ahead of the curve.

I read this by a reporter for The New York Times, “The sad thing is: most people — this has been true in every epidemic I’ve covered, whether it’s Zika in Puerto Rico or AIDS in South Africa — don’t believe in the disease until they see someone get sick and die from it, someone they know.”

Well, I know of the daughter of one of our editors. She’s in Paris, and she has the virus. Before I see it I do believe it.

Stay well, everyone.