Watching these geraniums grow week by week.
We’ve reached the 15-day mark of our first planned national confinement here in France. They’ve extended it officially to mid-April. It’s too soon to tell if these measures are flattening the curve. It’s a shame (some would say criminal) that our leaders in the West did not take this seriously until we were seeing numbers in the thousands. But the pervasive thought early on, at least here in Europe, was that China seemed to be getting it under control. True, China appears to have had flattened its curve by February. Europe simply figured it was an Asian problem.
Now we know how connected we truly are.
Before you complain about the U.S. government, you should know that it’s not much better here. Even as cases were showing up in Italy, officials there were encouraging people to go out for an aperitif. President Macron, in France, told us it was okay to go about our normal lives, despite the fact that Italy had begun enacting regional quarantines. Two weeks later we would join Italy in a national shutdown.
It’s always someone else’s problem until it’s your own.
If this pandemic has taught us anything, it’s that your neighbor’s problem is your problem. Hardship knows no boundaries, no race, no religion, no culture. It can come to rich or poor, young or old, native or immigrant. We are only as strong as our weakest community. Had we looked to China or South Korea as an extension of ourselves, we might have followed suit when they took their measures, learned from them and got ahead of the problem. And we’d possibly be on our way to flattening our curve by now, and saving lives.
What will it take before we open our eyes and see how small the world really is? How close we are? How much we belong to one another? We are all related by virtue of a shared planet. We survive and thrive not only by joining forces, but by joining hearts and minds.
Get caught up on my diary, here.
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Tip of the day
Spend 10 minutes today thinking about other people in your community. Is there anyone who might need a call, a word of comfort? Are there any people in need of supplies—paper products, canned goods? Thinking of others helps us get out of our own heads. And that can lead to a sense of peace and goodwill. We could all use some of that right now.
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On today’s bookshelf
Organize your thoughts to reduce stress. Click book to buy.
Plan ahead with Ina. Click book to buy.
Another shameless plug. Click book to buy.
My (Parttime) Paris Life 
Hello Lisa-
I love reading your blogs. They are refreshingly funny and raw at times! We are so connected. It really does make the world seem so small especially now.
Stay safe & healthy 💗
Rosanne
Yes we are. Stay well, too!
These daily journals of yours are the best! The whole package: short, concise, pointed, well-written, meaningful. Love your story and your sharing.
Thank you for that!
Well said, Lisa. I didn’t realize that France had a choice to follow the lead of China & South Korea. That said, I still think France is doing a much better job of playing catch up than is the USA. I feel much safer here.
There is always a choice to look to others who have experience and learn from them. Asia has dealt with SARS and had plans in place that were easy to enact. They are experts in this area. France also had a choice to learn from Italy’s mistakes. Mais alors ? We live in insular worlds, even in the EU, and we suffer from it. We each are making strides and missteps through this. It’s not us vs. them. France, for example, is not doing the widespread testing that Germany or even the US is doing, so our numbers are not realistic. It’s also teeny compared to the US, easier to contain. Everyone thought they were different, that it wouldn’t happen to them. This thing is the great equalizer. I hope we learn from it. Stay well and be well, my friend!
Beautifully said.
I meant that you are refreshingly honest! ….not funny 😫oops!
Funny is good. I want to be funny, too, sometimes.
Hi Lisa, this is an interesting site by a public organization that predicts the flattening of the curve by state. It is updated daily and you can see if your state is making progress. I wonder if there is the same thing in France. https://covid19.healthdata.org/projections. Best, Bill.
There is such a thing for the entire world by country. Thank you for sharing.
These daily posts in the time of pandemic are superb, Lisa. So concise, so articulate, so insightful. Thank you once again. 😊
Thank you so much! I’m glad you are enjoying them. I hope I don’t run out of things to say. 😉
Loved the singing! Thanks Lisa!