I saw this sign yesterday. To me, this faded sign represents the perfect image for how most people feel about the pandemic: fading from everyone’s collective minds, part of the past and something that’s been forgotten to take down. However, the sad truth is that’s it’s still very much with us and will be for a long time. We’ve just collectively decided that we don’t care. Just yesterday I learned that my sister’s law firm partner has long COVID and she is barely able to work. People dismiss COVID as mild but the reality is that we will see a lot of unnecessary suffering, be it long COVID or deaths, because of our collective choices and our refusal to implement long term measures (like ventilation, etc). Some days I’m just so discouraged at the state of the world. It feels like we can’t do anything right. The feeling is obviously exacerbated by all the other events happening around the world (Ukraine, school shootings, climate change, etc.). It’s depressing to see that we are incapable to do anything long term if it’s too inconvenient. Even medium term is unbearable to us as a society. We are so privileged and allergic to change, we’d rather be in a bad status quo than do anything about it.
December 7, 2022
I am starting to see the world opening up, as people feel confident about mingling due to 1) being vaccinated; 2) thinking that the pandemic is becoming less of a factor in our lives. I have to admit on feeling nervous about going places without a mask. I did that for the first time this past Sunday when I walked into my church without a mask. The rules we were given were that we could come in without a mask, BUT if we sang the hymns, we had to put on our masks. I watched our priest taking his mask on and off to comply with these instructions, passed down from the Diocese. A cumbersome process at best! I just did not sing. Easier that way.
May 25, 2021