I wonder if they've used up all their toilet paper yet?
Happy anniversary, by the way. It was two years ago today that our world started to fall apart, as the first sports leagues cancelled games, schools started to close, the EU shut its borders, the World Health Organization declared it a pandemic, and Tom Hanks—TOM HANKS!--informed the world he had contracted Covid. Within days everything was shut down and our world has yet, in some ways, to recover.
Ah. Good times.
Of course, even though it was two years ago today that things really struck home, we had been dealing with the growing impact of the burgeoning pandemic even before that. I'm thinking, specifically, on perhaps the most surreal aspect of those early days, the fact that people were going out and clearing store shelves of toilet paper.
Two years later still don't get WHY they did it, but that's neither here nor there.
The toilet paper “shortage” (there really wasn't a shortage until some people decided that it might be a good time to go out and buy a thousand rolls) led to lots of bemused stares, countless late night TV jokes, and some creative ideas for people. I recall walking down Front Street in Marquette right before everything was shut down and seeing this sign--
I have no idea if it actually worked as a promotion, but it sure was a heck of a great idea.
Of course, as it turned out the toilet paper “shortage” was the least of our worries as everything fell apart two years ago today.. As I mentioned in here last week or a couple of weeks ago things changed so quickly over so many days that for the first month or so of the pandemic just seems like a blur. Even from gaining a little (just a little) perspective over those two years it's still kind of hard to believe, especially (and probably) because we're still dealing with the fall out from it.
When we get back to “normal”--IF we ever get back to “normal”--it'll seem so very, very strange. Of course, that might not be until 2025 or 2027 or 2030, but I'm hopeful we'll get there one day. And the good thing about that is?
That should be just around the time people who bought a 1,000 roles of toilet paper back in 2020 will need to go out and buy some more.
Have a great weekend!
No comments:
Post a Comment