I am a once-a-month grocery shopper, thanks to my mother who always says, “You have to be prepared. You never know.” With the coronavirus upon us, I am forced to become a daily shopper, every day more anxious as I am unable to fill my stick-to-it list of monthly groceries.
I have witnessed a deep disrepect for humanity — people pushing, fighting over, and hoarding items. I am ashamed of our local Walmart and City Market. They forgot to take care of their most loyal customers: the elderly, the natives, the locals… and their own employees. They have allowed out-of-staters to buy up all groceries. They are finally limiting supplies, and have designated elderly shopping hours.
I am in awe of apologetic Walmart stockers who have had to tolerate undeserving abuse from customers while furiously stocking limited supplies. They have been in our way only while doing their job. As customers, we have also been in their way. Thankfully, they have been returned to night stocking. Let’s leave them there.
My daughter and I had to drive out of town just to find toilet paper. And they say, “Shop locally.” We were received with nothing but grace in the Family Dollar in Bayfield. The manager made us tear up when he said that he considers Pagosa Springs people a part of their community. Let’s bring back our Family Dollar. Our community desperately needs it.
My grandchildren’s education has had to take a back seat, although every day they work diligently with more calm and patience than their parents at trying to complete the mountain of homework sent home. These kids are not just learning from the crisis; they are living it. They are doing chores, learning to cook, doing laundry, getting along with each other, exercising, grocery shopping, praying, and practicing gratitude as they social distance from their loved ones. They are witnessing their exhausted parents losing their jobs and working extra hours as they expose themselves to the coronavirus — all in a panic to provide for their next meal. They need to have their questions answered and their fears calmed.
These kids will never recover from this crisis; they will only move forward from it. This unfortunate catastrophe will certainly go down in their history books, definitely not in the five-paragraph essay format that we language arts teachers would expect.
Teachers must come up with lesson plans and give students homework just to be paid. If they must work every day from 8-4, invite them to report to their respective buildings and serve breakfast and lunch. They can give their students a smile and a hug. This is the personal touch that students need.
These kiddos are the hope we all need. Online learning programs cannot teach them how to be decent human beings. The state has already forgone state tests for this school year. Why not forgo homework and report cards too? Where an objective report card can be given in some subjects, an objective report card cannot be given in humanity.
Stay safe, healthy, and hopeful,
Maria Martinez-Gallegos
Pagosa Springs, CO