A Small Cost of Social Distancing

Yesterday I went for a motorcycle ride in the country. I came across a cow loose in the road, as occurs from time to time. I had a very strong impulse to stop, as I normally would, and help return the cow to her pasture. I generally feel a duty to do that sort of thing, and I wanted to do it. On any normal day I would have done it, but on this day I realized I had conflicting duties.

On this day, there was already a crowd of people standing around -- uselessly as far as I could tell -- and I could tell that it would be impossible to avoid interacting with them. They had clearly called for help, and were numerous enough that people would notice them and slow down (thus avoiding collision with the cow). Everything's easier to catch here than back in Georgia, where flatter land and wider rivers made it easy for livestock to get free and go a long ways. They probably managed the fairly easy task of herding one cow down into her pasture.

I rode on and left them to deal with it, with sad regret. It's likely enough we soon will have worse things to regret than the lost chance to help catch a loose cow, but I hated to go on without helping. I was one person there who really knew how to deal with the problem having dealt with that particular problem some several times before. I could have been a help, but this time I was no help at all.

5 comments:

Anonymous said...

I wouldn't beat myself up over it. Life is full of risk and it sounds like there were plenty of people already there who wanted to assume that risk.
nmewn

Grim said...

It’s a very small thing. It’s just an observation of regret.

Texan99 said...

It goes against the grain, but luckily in this case, no harm done. The ideal thing would have been if you'd been able, from a distance, to get them to disperse and let you handle it without a crowd. That would have taken either a lot of luck, or new social norms we haven't had a chance to develop yet.

ymarsakar said...

Command the crowd to part and to maintain position at a distance. Repeat 3 times. If they do not obey, carry on. If they do, wait for the heavens to clear a path using wind to recalibrate the vibration of the realm, and then you can go in.

Not that it matters much. The strongholds and holy places of Georgia are sufficient to keep things relatively well, even if the main sewer media thinks the world is ending. It is ending... for them and their Cabal.

People are given a chance to choose between Serving Others or Serving Self.

Elise said...

For more than 20 years, my husband has given blood as often as he can. I admire him for doing this and also appreciate it since donated blood helped save my life years ago yet I myself cannot donate blood. He was scheduled to give blood this week. When I learned that the donation center workers are not wearing masks, I asked him not to donate and he has agreed. I understand that masks are more urgently needed for medical personnel treating the sick but that doesn't lessen the risks of close contact without them. It was difficult for me to ask and, I'm sure, for him to agree but doing otherwise seems foolishly unsafe.