CORONAVIRUS -- A STORY THAT CAN HELP YOU, AN INSPIRATIONAL MESSAGE

A MESSAGE AND A STORY
We are following what is happening in the States and are sorry, but unfortunately not surprised. Surprises are happening every day, there, here, and at a certain point, I at least had to ask myself, "Now, what can I do to feel better, what can I do?"
Because, you have to do something! Activitiy will be your cure. You can only take so much news, so much negativity. Both physically and mentally it is wearing on body and soul.
Please, friends and family, take a pause, and do something nice for yourself.
Some people, I know, are terribly fragile. I see people asking when this will be over. Who can possibly know the answer! There are unknowns here, and the decisions made by the various governments will make a huge difference.
I look at it like this, at least I try to. I see that this is my life. Strangely, who would have ever imagined, THIS is the life of the whole world right now. It is as united in ONE THING as we could ever be. So, actually, I realize that I am extremely fortunate. With all my own personal problems or concerns, worries or fear, I am fortunate. In fact, a lot of my real displeasure right now is for those who are in horrifying situations, the ones who before all of this were already the sufferers in the wordl: war, hunger, health problems. No homes, no family, disease, handicaps, etc etc So, I am fortunate. AND since this is my life right now, I aim on making myself as strong as I can be. This is a priority.
Right now our real selves will be shown and expressed and we will discover a lot about ourselves. People will be able to take it, harden up their shell and get on with their lives somehow, and get something done. Whatever it is, they will use action to help solve their lonliness, sadness, depression. Being inactive could be very serious right now, it is not something to follow -- the desire to just hide, or watch tv all day, or sleep all day or drink. These things could lead to something more negative and that would be a shame and could be very dangerous.
Please read this extraordinary story someone posted today, I do believe it should be adopted by all in order to have a clearer starting point, a wiser place to begin to make this "adventure" worthwhile, in a way. Here it is. And good luck, but please, read the message with an open mind. I find it very helpful right now.

“Captain, the hub is worried and very agitated about the quarantine that they imposed on us at the port. Can you talk to us? " "What troubles you, boy? Don't you have enough food? Don't you sleep enough?" "This is not it, Captain, I can't stand not being able to go ashore, not being able to embrace my loved ones." "And if they let you down and you were contagious, would you bear the guilt of infecting someone who can't stand the disease?"
I would never forgive him, even if this plague was invented for me! " "Maybe it is, but if it doesn't?" "I understand what you mean, but I feel deprived of freedom, Captain, they have deprived me of something." "And you deprive yourself of even more things, boy." "You are making fun of me?" "Not at all ... If you let yourself be deprived of something without responding adequately, you have lost". "So, in your opinion, if they take something from me, do I have to take other ones off to win?" "Sure. I did it in the quarantine of seven years ago." "And what did you deprive yourself of?" "I had to wait more than twenty days on the ship. I had been waiting for months to enjoy the port and enjoy some spring on land. There was an epidemic. In Port April they forbade us to go down. The first days were hard. I felt like you. Then I started to respond to those impositions by not using logic. I knew that after twenty-one days of behavior a habit is created, and instead of complaining and creating terrible ones, I started behaving differently from all the others. I began to reflect on who, in deprivation, has many and for all the days of his miserable life, to get in the right perspective, then I worked to win. I started with food. I forced myself to eat half of what I normally ate, then I began to select more easily digestible foods, which would not overload my body. I went to feed on foods that, traditionally, contributed to keeping man healthy. The next step was to combine this with a purification of unhealthy thoughts, to have them ever higher and nobler. I forced myself to read at least one page a day of a book on a topic I didn't know. I forced myself to do physical exercises on the bridge at dawn. An old Indian had told me years ago that the body is empowered by holding its breathI forced myself to take deep breaths every morning. I believe my lungs never reached such a force. The evening was the time for prayers, the time to thank some entity that rules everything, for not giving me the fate of having serious deprivations for my whole life.
Always the Indian advised me, years before, to get into the habit of imagining light entering me and making me stronger. It could also work for loved ones who were far away from me, and so this practice also made an appearance on every day I spent on the ship.
Instead of thinking about everything I couldn't do, I thought about what I would do once I got off. I saw the scenes every day, lived them intensely and enjoyed the wait. Everything you can get right away is never interesting. Waiting serves to sublimate desire, to make it more powerful.
I had deprived myself of succulent foods, of many bottles of rum, of blasphemies and curses to be listed in front of the rest of the crew. I had deprived myself of playing cards, of sleeping a lot, of lazing around, of thinking only of what they were depriving me of. "
"How did it end, Captain?"
"I acquired all those new habits, boy. They made me get off after much longer than I expected."
"Did they also deprive you of spring, anyway?"
"Yes, that year they deprived me of spring, and of many other things, but I had nevertheless flourished, I had brought spring inside, and no one could have stolen it anymore".
Alessandro Frezza - from the diary of Donatella Anna Maffei

American in Italy and Coronavirus -- The Elderly

Coronavirus? The elderly? 

I am not an expert.  Just a normal American woman who has been living in Italy since 1974. And I also have a daughter in China, so I am lucky to receive information and  guidance and experience of this daughter who has learned a lot having lived through this virus directly in China. 

Where I live in Perugia it is a small city, so it is easy to hear directly of people's experiences. The number of contagious people in Italy is very high. We all know someone who works in the medical field here, so information is constantly getting to us.

From afar, I am seeing and hearing things that are being said and shared by Americans. I am disgusted with calling the virus the Chinese Virus (this, thanks to you know who!!). There are various ideas about whether the virus actually did come from China or not, which you can find on the web.

And I am also angered at the hostility against Chinese or Asians in general in the USA. It also has happened here, and is dreadful.

Today a friend just wrote asking me if it is true that "Italy is not caring for the elderly if they contract the virus". I looked it up on SNOPES to get the truth. Snopes searches the truth about current affairs mostly, and you can count on their research and opinions. 

As I had known basically, there are mixed answers on this question about the elderly. Definitely it is not that Italy doesn't care for the elderly, but just like in any other country who is not ready for the amount of people who are constantly being taken in ambulances to the hospitals, if they don't have enough machinery, enough of the machines that aid with respiratory difficulty, then at that point, if the hospitals are overcrowded and a decision must be made about who gets the machine and who doesn't, the choice will go to the person who has the most possibility of surviving.

Harsh, but true. AND THAT IS WHY ALSO, RIGHT NOW IT IS IMPERATIVE TO TAKE CARE OF OURSELVES AND TO STAY IN GOOD HEALTH.
 Italy is not the only country with a lack of these important machines. Also now we will see if the USA will be prepared to care for the amount of people that most likely will come down with the virus.

Another truth is that visitors are not able to come and visit very ill relatives because this virus is way too contagious. This means, now is the time to stop being with people, and if you have to be, a mask and a very good distance between the two of you. 

 Here is an EXCEPTIONAL list of what happened here in Italy, step by step worth the read: 

https://www.boredpanda.com/coronavirus-outbreak-stages-italy-jason-yanowitz/?fbclid=IwAR3sE81x230zHSJeQq8GHu4TbKyynLYCwrudkqwQzZrypy_zqqnZcfpHGhc&utm_source=facebook&utm_medium=social&utm_campaign=organic

Remember.....

CHECK OUT THE EXPERTS

DON'T SHARE POSTS OR INFORMATION BEFORE CHECKING IT

USE COMMON SENSE

AND STAY IN, START SOCIAL DISTANCING

THIS VIRUS IS NO JOKE....

It may seem like something to joke about in the beginning, I think we all went

 through this period, not knowing much, not believing it was true, and taking 

it as if it was an impossibility. I just heard this morning of an island in Hawaii 

shutting down almost everything. Now in New Zealand they are not permitting

 any more foreigners into their country. And in the States, people are believing 

this is not hitting them? And to not take things seriously??

Coronavirus -- Some Viewpoints from American mother in Italy, daughter in China

It has been a while since I have written here. I feel it is my duty to do so now.
Being an American who has lived in Italy for 45 years, and having a daughter who has been in Beijing, China  for five years, definitely our latest experience of the Coronavirus has changed our phonecall conversations, and has definitely made it more useful for me to talk with my daughter more often.
She gives me excellent advice, and I listen.
I thought I would share some of it here with you now.

She tells me to be very careful in some situations that we do not especially hear about now in Italy. Let's say, these hints are more specific, and can be easy to do and useful.

One things my daughter suggested is to avoid elevators. She suggests using a mask whenever you are in places where people might be, and now, crowds should be totally avoided as we have been doing here in Italy for weeks. But, today she mentioned this. When one walks into a building, where you must go into someone's home (for example, going to visit your mother or relative who you are assisting), immediately before getting into the building, you should put a mask on. Once in the apartment of the building you can take it off.
The reason for this is that you don't know who was in that building a few minutes before you, perhaps someone sneezed or coughed. The virus is not totally known, and extremely contagious. So, this extra precaution is useful.

Another interesting concept is that fruit and veggies, when possible, should be cooked as a preference.
IF you eat them raw, she suggested to peel them with ONE knife, and then when you are eating, use ANOTHER knife, not the same one. In Italy we shop and chose our produce with a plastic glove supplied by the store. But, if you chose and pick, and people are doing the same, this sounds like a logical idea to me.

You don't want to just bite into an apple in these times. Best to peel fruit. Here in Italy I know that sometimes people have the habit of washing their fruit first, and then peeling. But apples and pears are always peeled.

My daughter also told me that at her last apartment they had a large sign with rules to work by, during these times. If a person worked alone, they were told what kind of rules to go by. If they worked with others, there were other things to respect. It is extremely organized in China, and people do go by the rules.

Speaking of rules, it is so necessary now to isolate, and not to socialize. You just do not know for sure who might have this virus, even without having symptoms. That is the tricky part.

It might be interesting to see what the radio station CRI (China Radio International) has to say and what they post, also regarding rules to follow during this time. This is the Italian link. Definitely all other languages exist also, just Google them. I remember seeing an excellent video made by the Chinese regarding hand washing, but I am sure they have many others.

A smart thing, I believe, is to take the experiences of who has or is going through this before you. Read the experts, I am not one, but being here in Italy I have had a few days more experience than friends in the States. And I listen to my daughter who had even more experience, being in China.

As time goes on, each day passes, our worlds are getting smaller and smaller, we are more limited each day with what we can do outside of our four walls. Actually, lots of good is coming from this, along with the inconveniences. Look for the good, it exists, even in this situation.

Good luck and stay safe!!

In China with my daughter

Here's the Chinese Radio link
http://italian.cri.cn/