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Friday, March 29, 2024

Quarantine fatigue

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"Fix your house and read your books."

 

 

We often read or hear about quarantine fatigue. This is a result of the months of restricted movement as we protect ourselves from COVID-19.

First, we were placed under Enhanced Community Quarantine, then Modified Enhanced Community Quarantine, then General Community Quarantine. Hopefully after Christmas we can be placed under Modified General Community Quarantine – provided cases do not spike.

My wife and I, because of our age, have been spending all our time at home. We are not complaining. Some of our friends say, however, that they are bored and tired of being cooped up indoors.

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There are many things to do indoors, I discovered. You can fix the house and do all of the things you have always wanted to do. My wife has been able to fix the family memorabilia.

For me, I still write this column, pounding on my old Olympia. I am also now reading a book on the lives of saints and the apparitions of the Blessed Virgin Mary. Fortunately, during our many pilgrimages to holy places, my wife got all the books she could get her hands on. Now we have piles of them.

I assure you that reading such books will change your outlook in life. You will be able to ponder the meaning of why you are here on earth.

I am particularly fascinated with the autobiographies of St. Therese of the Child Jesus, labeled by the Vatican as the Greatest Saint of Modern Times, St. May Margareth, the Sacred Heart of Jesus, St. Bernadette of Lourdes and Saint Catherine of the Miraculous Medal of the Blessed Virgin Mary.

My gulay, I got interested in the lives of these saints because of our pilgrimages in France, Spain, Portugal and the Holy Land. We even went to Akita, Japan and stayed overnight at the monastery where we saw the wooden statue of the Blessed Virgin, crying human tears.

In Lourdes, my wife and I bathed in the miraculous waters and joined a procession. We even prayed in Filipino during the procession.

I am reminded of the time that I was a junior at Ateneo de Manila. We visited the Carmelite Convent in Lipa, Batangas and saw the petals said to have been showered by the Blessed Virgin. Unfortunately, the Vatican failed to authenticate this event as miraculous.

My wife and I consider ourselves blessed to have gone on these pilgrimages. I encourage you, my readers, to go also once the COVID-19 pandemic is over. You will never regret it.

These past months have been a blessing for us. We have not been eating out and thus we have been able to save money.

I am also thankful that those society pages have no more events to cover. I have never liked displays of conspicuous consumption.

**

It is good that Christmas parties have been banned. Such gatherings will only result in a surge of new cases. These parties are also out of place and insensitive as many of our countrymen have lost their livelihood.

The problem is how to stop people in rural areas from the merriment.

Then again, what can the government do? Arrest the partygoers?

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