Bars open today! (A Covid Story)

It seems like a distant memory when I was almost arrogant in my reveling in how Vietnam was one of the only countries in the world that had no lockdown in effect. We were at sporting events in packed stadiums, nightclubs that I don't go to were all open, and domestic tourism was booming, the beaches were packed and everyone was making money, then a few people came down with Covid and the government took everything away from us. 25 casualties later (who were all very old and had a bunch of other medical problems,) and then 20 days wait or so, the government made a surprise announcement yesterday that most parts of life will be opening back up come tomorrow - well, it is today now.

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I've done my fair share of complaining about not being allowed to do anything outside but since I work online teaching English, my industry was actually booming as a lot of the world isn't allowed to do the same things. When I would go outside I put things into perspective when I noticed that a lot of the businesses in my own neighborhood are people who probably barely make ends meet by selling noodles and were now all of a sudden not allowed to do the only thing that can make them any money. The amount of suffering that they were no doubt going through far surpasses me not being able to go to my beach bar of choice so I kept the whining to a minimum. I am, after all, very fortunate to be capable of doing something online for 10 - 15 dollars an hour when these same folks would probably be thrilled to find out that they could make that much in a day.

From a purely selfish point of view I am delighted to hear that I will be able to go back and socialize at my favorite local watering holes again. I am far more delighted that the people who have been suffering due to lack of ability to have customers in the past 5 weeks are going to be able to get back on track.

If you live in a community like mine, and I think most people in the world do, where the large shops were allowed to stay open and probably saw an increase in customers, while the small or medium sized businesses were forced to close completely, I recommend that you do what I am going to do: Go out of my way to support the smallest businesses in existence because they need it the most.

Let's stay away from the Wal Marts and Tescos for a bit and put money back in the hands that it is needed the most from right now. The small "mom and pop" shops. This is especially true in countries like Vietnam where the government never offered handouts to closed businesses because the government doesn't actually have any money to give them.

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It might cost a tiny bit more to do this than it would at a giant supermarket or shopping mall, but these people need it a lot more than some international conglomerate that likely has billionaire owners in the first place. Let's do the right thing guys!