It happened last Thursday. I became a victim of the coronavirus. No, I don’t have it, or at least the symptoms haven’t shown themselves if I do. But, I’m a victim none the less.
Now, I have never been one to play the victim card, and that’s not my intent. No, my intent is to show how, even without contracting the virus, we have all been victimized.
In my case it was a phone call with my youngest son that clued me in. We usually get together at least once a week. It may be with my daughter-in-law and the grandkids, or not. Either way, it’s always a highlight for me.
Not this week.
My son’s a deputy with the Brevard County Sheriff’s office and is currently assigned to the jail. If you’ve seen news reports there are four reported cases of THE RONA with Brevard corrections staff. There are no reported cases of inmates with the virus.
Jail procedures require screening as the staff reports to work. As far as we know my son has not contracted the virus. He is showing no symptoms. He was tested for the virus on Wednesday. His results are due Monday or later.
That brings us to the Thursday morning call. He called me, just because that’s what we do. Earlier he had shared a Facebook post about one of our favorite pizza places and the struggles it faces after a month or more of social distancing and no dine-in customers.
As our call was concluding I mentioned the post and asked if they’d like to get together over his days off and order pizza to enjoy and to help the shop. His initial answer was yes and we began plotting the day.
Suddenly he stopped. The next words made me a victim of THE RONA.
NO DAD, UNTIL I GET THE TEST RESULTS BACK I DON’T WANT TO TAKE THE CHANCE OF UNKNOWINGLY SPREADING THE VIRUS TO YOU.
What had been a largely academic exercise of dealing with the virus had come home with a vengeance. Whether it was a risk or not, his common sense came to the forefront. He knew there was a chance and it was a chance he was unwilling to take.
The coronavirus had made victims of my family and we don’t know if there is a good reason it did so.
What we do know is that his job puts him on the front lines of this pandemic. With four infected coworkers, the potential is real. And uncertainty breeds caution.
I suppose if I am to be victimized, this is the way to go. Victimized, not by the illness, but by concern from my son that he not unwittingly pass it on to me.
I’ll miss him, my daughter-in-law and the grandkids this weekend. But there will be more opportunities to get together. He’s doing his part to be sure of that.
Now that I think of it, there are far worse ways to be victimized.