Pen-less Pandemic Protest Poem

During this unwanted (and unwarranted) time of isolation, I've done a lot of writing. Most of it has involved an actual pen moving across notebook pages, and some of it has been via the computer, but for a couple days I used scissors instead. One day I pulled out some old The New Yorker magazines I had and started reading the fiction stories in them, Something on one of the pages kind of jumped out at me, and I thought, "You know, that's a pretty fitting sentiment for right now." Soon, other things were jumping out at me, so I just started cutting words and phrases out until I had the "poem" depicted in the following photos. I deliberately used 4 issues from 4 different months that mirrored the time period of what I figured would be the 4 worst months of the pandemic. 

From it, you can probably gauge that I'm not in favor of the way things have been handled. My heart aches for everyone who ever got sick from this virus and even more so for those who died from it, but I'm even more heartbroken by the fallout I see of people who are needlessly suffering in other ways -- the elderly who live for the visits from family and friends to lighten the burden of their life in nursing homes, the people (like a dear friend of mine) whose surgeries got postponed again and again and then finally scheduled but whose loved ones weren't allowed in the hospitals even when those people (like my friend) ended up dying, the far too numerous people who are dying by suicide because they can't deal with the isolation or the loss of their businesses or the loss of so many other things, the people who have been punished for simply wanting to keep their businesses going or for wanting to gather to worship or to do all sorts of things that make life worth living, and so so so so many other things. 

I'm especially sickened by the need to belittle, deride, disparage, ridicule, and outright insult those of us who do not agree with how things are being handled. Normally, I pass over the rude comments and do my best to ignore people when they are being mean, but just today I came to the defense of someone who was being viciously attacked on Facebook for a post he made in which it was clear that he is not in favor of how things have been handled either. The things people were saying to him were truly unbelievable, and I just couldn't take it anymore when I read one person saying incredibly untrue things about him. I replied and told him my very positive opinion of him. He thanked me and pointed out how Facebook has become the land of bullies who lash out at anyone who dares to express himself "out of the programmed norm." Why is that? Why do so many feel the need to be downright vicious in their comments? Each of his comments were worded politely; yet every single reply he received (besides mine) was atrocious and full of swear words and name calling that I wouldn't even think to say to someone let alone write it in a comment on any social media platform. 

People want to rail about how we need to protect everyone from this virus and how we should do everything to prevent others from getting sick, yet some of those same people show how sick they truly are by the things they say to others who (gasp) dare to disagree with them. I don't fear the virus; I fear the mentality of cruel people who believe that they know better than everyone else. I know I'm not alone in that sentiment, so that's why I'm sharing my "poem" with you. If you feel the need to write me a cruel, judgmental, demeaning, ridiculing reply, please have the decency to formulate it as a poem, too. Thanks.