As the pandemic rolled out of its 10th month, I logged into PayPal, clicked an amount of $2,200 and hit send – to a friend. The unlucky recipient was my out-of-work hairdresser, also enduring a hellish case of long-haul COVID (dizziness, brain fog, strange edemas, stomach distress). I am by any measure in a profoundly better situation than her: employed, able to log extra hours, and capable of walking from my bedroom to the kitchen without a physiological event.
Suggesting and providing this aid was a psychological tightrope. “The recipient can end up feeling indebted, as well as ineffectual and kind of incompetent, or believe that you feel pity
→ Continue reading at The Spokesman-Review