My daughter had to break up a fight last week.
She works at a Dollar General Store, one of the places in our area deemed as “essential services” since they stock most of the staples people need. (It helps that they have popped up every 300 yards in our area, more efficient than kudzu, but that’s another story.)
I did not witness it, but from her account I think that a woman in the store, carrying a baby and wearing a mask, coughed. This caused a large, biker-type man to freak out.
People react strongly to a cough or sneeze these days.
He went off on her, and seemed also upset (if I understood correctly) that because she had a baby with her she could buy two packs of toilet paper, whereas he could only buy one. But mostly he thought she shouldn’t even be in the store, because she might infect everybody.
(By the way, if you didn’t already know this, we live in East Tennessee, the allergy capital of the Known World.)
My little five-foot-four daughter had to get in the biker’s face and tell him to calm down or leave the store.
This is not the worst story I have heard of people behaving badly in the face of panic buying. My son has done most of the buying the last couple of weeks to minimize our exposure (i.e., I’m old), and he has described crowds of people and shelves emptying within minutes of being restocked.
Just today, my wife shared with me a story saying that stores would not accept returns on all that toilet paper, so “enjoy your lifetime supply.” (Here’s a similar story.)
Fear of running out is nothing new. When the Israelites tried to hoard manna despite God’s direction to only gather enough for the day, it became worm infested (see Exodus 16:13-30). This has always been part of spiritual discipline, which is why it’s included in the model prayer that came from Jesus (see Matthew 6:11). I don’t think that means we should only plan one day at a time, but rather that we shouldn’t plan out of a sense of fear and abandonment.
Fear is, to say the least, stressful. When we focus on what we lack, that is all we see. Generosity feels better. It makes us focus on what we have, and when we focus on what we have, that is what we see.
Yes, we face difficult times. We also have many blessings. We have a choice of focus.
Give, and it will be given to you. A good portion—packed down, firmly shaken, and overflowing—will fall into your lap. The portion you give will determine the portion you receive in return. (Luke 6:38, CEB)
May you not only be blessed, but also see your blessings.
Peace.