If you haven’t heard, there’s a pandemic among us. Of course you’ve heard, it’s all any and everyone is talking about…pandemic this, Coronavirus that, COVID 19 the third. A pandemic, to be clear, is a global outbreak of disease. Around. The. Globe.

Readers, we’re in a strange time, a time where:

1. washing your hands for 20 seconds is an innovative concept,
2. there are more conspiracy theories than rolls of toilet paper on the shelves, and
3. life as we know it has changed completely.

My takeaway is that the pandemic is indeed horrifying, but for reasons outside of the typical parameter. The pandemic is horrifying because I can’t even buy a damn box of pasta. The pandemic is horrifying because spring sports are a waning memory from the not-so-distant past. The pandemic is horrifying because kids have been released from schools nationwide (there goes all that toilet paper). The pandemic is horrifying because dogs and cats may (or may not) be able to carry the virus. The pandemic is horrifying because a handful of US cases turned into over 15,000 in mere weeks because people refuse to follow my usual social distancing regiment.

But arguably most importantly, the pandemic is horrifying because puff, puff, pass is currently a thing of the past. Sharing an “illegal” (depending on your geographical location’s individual laws and ordinances) joint with friends in a circle is indeed now frowned upon.  Taking two puffs and passing a burning herbal cylinder to the right, is now frowned upon. Smoking hash with the bros… frowned upon. Not to mention that coughing (in and of itself) is currently frowned upon.  I think you get the idea.  To make things worse, if at all possible, this horrific realization has come to me on the eve of a month-long 4/20.

This pandemic is horrifying. Good luck out there readers, wash your paws, and don’t pass anything.

– D.P. Whitt. HashtagWV #125. April 2020.