Chinese Version
03-02-2020
I have hoarded food three times under abnormal circumstances.
Hoarding in West Virginia
The first hoarding was caused by an incoming heavy snow storm, which belonged to abnormal weather hoarding in part of West Virginia.
In 1996, a heavy snow storm in January made me aware of the importance of stocking up foods and also created opportunities for a big political scandal which resulted in the broadcast of President Clinton’s videotaped grand jury testimony on September 21, 1998, the same day eBay went public.
Before the heavy snow storm showed up in January, the TV reported that the milk shelves were empty at my local supermarket as residents rushed to buy food due to the forecasted heavy snow storm. Seeing the news report on the TV, it was too late for me to go shop and stock up food.
The heavy snow storm completely covered my car which was parked outdoors and so my famliy stayed at home for a few days, but didn’t suffer from food shortage nor hunger.
Hoarding in California
The second hoarding was due to the fear of an earthquake, which belonged to abnormal earth hoarding in most of California.
In 2014, after a 6.0 magnitude earthquake in South Napa on August 24, 2014 and a 6.8 magnitude earthquake in Ferndale on March 9, 2014, Califoniaians began to stock up for what they feared was an upcoming earthquake. I also stocked dozens of gallons of bottled water and many boxes of biscuits. Because it was not a large-scale one-time rush purchase, there had been no shortage of bottled water in the supermarket.
The water I bought and stored at home were consumed by my family later, but the biscuits were thrown away after they expired. I only hoarded food once in California, because there was no sense of urgency flooding in the media.
Hoarding in Massachusetts
The third incident of food hoarding was due to the COVID-19 pandenmic, which belonged to abnormal life threatening hoarding as seen in many countries.
On February 29, 2020 in the leap year, in accordance with the philosophy that it was best to “avoid places with many people to avoid being infected by the coronavirus”, I went to two supermarkets to purchase lots of meat, water, rice, toilet paper, canned foods.
There were many people in the supermarket on weekends. No one wore face masks at the first supermarket I went in. At the second supermarket, I saw two young Asian couples wearing masks.
On February 29, Sarah, one of my elementary friends in the Bay Area of California said, “I could not buy the kind of rice I like in the store, I had to buy a bag of Indian long rice.”
Li, my another elementary friend in Vancouver, Canada, shared photos of all the meat in the freezer in the supermarket being sold out.
Among the three hoarding times in peacetime, COVID-19 hoarding was the most bizarre, and the geographical scope of hoarding caused by COVID-19 was the widest.
It was said that COVID-19 will coexist with people. After hoarding, we should strive to enhance immunity and actively consume hoarded foods without wasting and without creating additional chaos to our society.
Little Episodes
March 1, 2020. Li shared photos of all the meat in the freezer in the supermarket being sold out in Vancouver, Canada.
