Picture it: You’re turning eight, maybe nine, and your parents are setting up games and activities to make this the best birthday party ever. They bought pinatas, water balloons, apples to bob for, and out of the corner of your eye, you see a donkey on the wall. 

On one of the chairs, there are some tails and blindfolds, and you realize that this really is going to be interesting. You are intrigued by this game, know the rules and have been wanting to play ever since Betty had it at her birthday party. 

The time comes. You go first at this game that you have been so eager to play. 

Your parents blindfold you and give you a donkey tail. They spin you around in circles five times and set you up to go forward. You’re dizzy, but you think you know where to put it. 

You move forward, you position your point of attack, and you stick the tail on the game board. You miss the donkey completely. In fact, you hit the elephant next to him.

Isn’t that what we’re doing with this virus? Maybe not us as a community but as a country. We are dizzy, we are tired, we feel confident that things will get better, but we don’t really know. 

As humans, we want a scapegoat or something to blame for this catastrophe. We walk forward, our hand reaching out with a blade at the end trying to find someone, something to blame for an invisible force that comes and goes, one way or another.

Was it the bat? Was it a corrupt scientist? Was it just a mishap in the market? Was it a call to war? These are all valid but flammable questions. We want to point a finger rather than holding a hand (metaphorically of course, please distance yourselves). We need to come together, fight this from the comfort of our couches, not from the tip of our forefinger.

Drop the donkey’s tail, don’t worry about who’s to blame because right now our families lives are at risk. Go home. Stay home. Tell your wife, husband, children that you love them. Watch a movie, play a board game, smile, laugh, cry if you must, but be safe. 

Be smart.