The Quarantine Chronicles, Day 56

DAY 56: I hear my neighbor slam

his door, his daughter wife and

dog, that front door slams all

day long -- where are they going
all the time? --

during a total lockdown? --

the regulations -- for our own

good -- say out once a day, 100

meters away, dog shit: check -- once

a week groceries/pharmacy -- we're

all taking this expensive tablet

to boost our immune systems and
making cakes to ease the pain -- and

that's it, that's all, #iorestoacasa -- so 

the slammers are cheating clearly -- they're 

going out to see their friends, 

relatives, cheat when the cops

turn their backs -- that's so Italian -- 

actually it's not, all us other

Italians are hunkered down

admirably, turtles closed in shells, 
obeying better than anyone -- way better 
than Americans with their silly

jogging on the beach -- the Brits,

the Swedes, what a pity! vilken skam.

So anyway my question is,

if I can remember it: Are

people who obey the rules

better people? Think peons
think automatons, fanatics

authoritarians, think sheep

fascists, zealots, think racists,

bigots, sexists -- when the powerful 
love rules -- for others to obey -- 
should we rebel with fists raised?

Question Authority? Stick it to the
Man? Down with Big Brother? 
Fight Imperial Stormtroopers?

or queue quietly, passively

accepting our roles as lookouts
on the castle wall signalling the
approach of the infected enemy

thusly avoiding the Black Plague --

is a virus a political absolute?
does a pandemic require acquiescence?
is cause and effect a measure of
our belief in the scientific method
and our rebuke of God creator?

-- if only we were better

people.