If you were asked to define life, would you define it as life = work, or life = income, or life = ‘any’ material thing...?
For me personally? Quality. Sitting in a wet diaper with no visitors is not appealing to me in the least. That is why I choose not to smoke, drink excessively, participate in exceedingly dangerous activities - especially when I had kids at home who needed me. I try to stay fit (not as much as I would like), eat well, etc. Does that make me think that I am better than anyone else? No. I just tried (and often failed) to make decisions that made sense for me and my family. I see those decisions being duplicated by my kids, just as bad decisions seem to be passed down.
Those who have spent a lifetime doing the opposite have already made their choices many times over the years. Choices have consequences. If I chose to smoke for 40 years, I chose COPD and cancer and the fun that goes with it. Some people get hosed, no doubt about that. But overall, we choose our outcome, to a large degree. I guess that makes me pro-choice.
Does that mean that I don't have empathy for those who chose differently? Absolutely not. I have family members, whom I loved dearly, who are no longer with us because of the habits that I laid out above and more. I can't control that. And honestly? I wouldn't want to. Others either didn't engage in self destruction or stopped many years ago, They are still here, for the most part.
Implying (if you were) that being concerned about business and career is selfish or materialistic, I would argue that it isn't. It's how we feed our families. Choosing to build a business that will impact my family for years to come, or a career that can give them more options for how they live their lives, seems to be good thinking. Poverty offers much fewer options and forces many to make choices that are far from ideal. Had I chosen an easier path that gave me more time and less effort, my family would have fewer options. That would have been selfish and focused solely on my comfort. Choosing to use the power of government to dictate what others are forced to do with respect to the fruits of their labor is much more selfish, in my opinion. Using the power of government to confiscate the fruits of others in the hope that you will be thrown a scrap, is about as materialistic and selfish that one can be. Just my opinion. I would argue that some of the panic can be chalked up to schadenfreude and the excitement that it generates. Again, just my opinion.
It seems to me that a more sensible approach would have been for those who are at risk to shelter and protect themselves or be protected. If I were deathly allergic to shellfish, I wouldn't eat shellfish. That doesn't preclude you from chowing down on shrimp.
I sincerely hope that this runs its course with the fewest lives lost as possible and hope that we have fewer casualties, both lives and livelihoods, than have been guesstimated. - Be safe
