One of the initial skills that my first grade teacher instilled in her students was the ability to “line up” quickly and quietly. No pushing. No shoving. No breaking in line. Some 60 years later, these lessons have come rushing back to me because…well…lines are a part of everyday life during COVID-19. Since March 2020, we have braved long, sluggish voting lines, registration lines, vaccination lines, toilet paper lines and store checkout lines alongside other masked and (hopefully) appropriately distanced individuals. My fellow earthlings and I have now become professional queuers who understand more than ever before the physical, social and psychological forces at play each time we shuffle through seemingly interminable lines. And as Mrs. A preached to me decades ago, proper queue etiquette is defined by courtesy, tolerance and patience.
March 12, 2021
I think history books will tell it like it was --that first, China FUCKED up royally by suppressing the truth about the virus and let it get out. Then the books will talk about spread throughout Europe and how years of austerity and globalization made the world completely unprepared for this crisis. How politicians on the right ignored warnings for year from the scientists and cut funding to programs to prepare for this. The books will talk about the countries that got things right, light South Korea and Tawaiin and New Zealand, because they had strong leaders and the population masked and followed the science and the citizens were willing to sacrifice. Then the books will talk about how the countries with populist strongmen--the US, England, India and Brazil failed miserably. I can imagine my great-grandchildren--assuming there are any humans left by then on a climate destroyed planet-- will shake their heads when they read about the stupidity of the human race. How humanity could not pull together for a collective good. How a country like the US could let half a million people die (Because it will be at least that number). The books will also record the amazing scientific feat of producing the vaccine in under a year. This will be marked as a turning point, because if mRNA vaccines turn out to be this effective, they can be deployed against other viruses, existing and future. This, and the huge demographic shifts of where people live because of remote work, will be among the defining outcomes of the pandemic. Finally, I hope, the books will quote from the UConn Pandemic Journaling Project to show the uncensored voices of people from around the world; their rage, sadness, frustration, grief, optimism, humor--all of it, so that future generations understand, how we experienced it, uncensored, and unfiltered, via media soundbites or social media posturing.
December 30, 2020