Senior shopper in new retail world of faceless frontliners

This pandemic is unveiling many kinds of heroes. Big stories are coming out from the lives of small people.

- PINKY CONCHA COLMENARES

We have celebrated — and now keep in our hearts — our new heroes, the medical workers who each day brave the battlefield of a deadly virus to save lives and help the sick recover.

They continue to risk their lives and their families’ too to honor an oath when they pledged to be doctors, nurses, medical technologists, health workers. For that, the world is grateful!

Let us not forget the other heroes who are there to keep our lives as normal as possible during this very unusual time. The bank tellers, delivery riders, the people at the convenience stores, groceries, and supermarkets, and vegetable sellers who deliver their produce to customers. They have to be at their places of work every day, despite the risks.

I met a few forgotten frontliners at the supermarket months ago, during the Enhanced Community Quarantine (ECQ) when fewer people were out. After some restrictions were lifted, I stopped going anywhere to shop for basic essentials because supermarkets began to look like a slow weekday crowd. Still a crowd just the same, and not recommended for senior citizens.