Can you take me back where I came from? One pre-Covid day I found myself singing this Beatle's song to myself as I walked along the street. Whatever it meant before Covid, it now has a whole new meaning.
Can you take me back?
Can you take me back where I came from?
Can you take me back?
Can you take me back where I came from?
Can you take me back?
Are you happy living here honey?
Honey are you happy living here?
I ain't happy living here baby
Honey can you take me back?
Honey are you happy living here?
I ain't happy living here baby
Honey can you take me back?
--The Beatles, "Can You Take me Back"
Except for essential services, most stores, restaurants and schools were closed beginning around March 13, 2020. Grocery stores and pharmacies remained opened; at first there was some panic buying as can be seen by these empty shelves at our local IGA grocery store. The streets were deserted, buses had no passengers, we lined up to enter grocery stores, the fun had been taken from life and it has not returned.
Not as widely reported was the increase in the number of suicides; there was one suicide a few blocks from here, we drove by the scene of this suicide a few minutes after it happened. I saw the body of the deceased lying on the grass surrounded by police officers. There was a second suicide also a few blocks away from where we live. Both of these suicides were at residences for old people. How could it have been otherwise? The old were isolated from other people and confined to their rooms.