Dear friends,
I don’t know exactly how long I have been confined in my apartment, but I think it’s about three weeks. All of us living at The Watermark are in the same situation. We get too much food every day and help if we are not feeling well or having problems. Today I called down on my phone because I couldn’t turn on my television. About five howers later a young man came up and turned it on in a second. I have decided not to turn it off tonight. Instead I will just turn down the sound when I go to sleep because I’m afraid that I won’t know how to turn it on tomorrow.
I won’t mention more of my problems except the major one: Now I can’t remember how to do the things I was doing regularly for many years, and there are so many of them. (The worst one is not being able to spell words anymore.} You don’t see that often because my machine puts a red line under a wrong word, and then I work hard to correct it. I think that all of this has happened because I am so isolated, and I will become normal again once I get free. (Please don’t tell me that freedom will not happen.)
I am sorry about what I have written, but I thought you should be warned of the results of being isolated, which I hope will never happen to you. I also hope that I will return to normal feelings and behavior. Whether I do or don’t, I will try to never talk about this problem again.
I will send this message very soon, and in the future I will deny that I wrote it.
Joanne
Joanne, the entire world is going through this isolation because of COVID-19. It will end, as did the polio pandemic in the 1950s.do you have favorite books you can re-read? You will not be isolated forever. All your friends are still here. Jane
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Thank you very much. Professor Yatvin. You continue to teach us as you share your circumstances. As you no doubt learned from the countless hours you spent helping young people learn to self-express, an occasional misspelled word only contributes to the honesty of a heart-felt composition. Thank you for everything.
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Thank you Don for writing to me. I am half crazy and I can’t spell words correctly anymore. My problem is isolation. For a long time now I have been isolated in my apartment every day. The only thing I get is too much food. I realize that the people here are trying to keep us safe from illness, and we are, but most of us are going crazy. Please forgive me for complaining, but that is what my life is know, and I think that many others here are in the same situation. If this terrible virus dosent end soon we will.
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