Pandemic #3
It’s been months. Months since they told us to “shelter in place”, to wash our hands and wear a mask. To stay a minimum of 6 feet away from ANYONE else. Signs on the freeways flashing “Stay Home”, “Stay Safe”.
New York State has passed the worst of it. The numbers in NYC skewing the impact of the pandemic in ou upstate regions. We flattened the curve. We drove the numbers down after untold carnage. We didn’t (and haven’t) yet fully reopened.
But, as I predicted in an earlier post, the Red states are right at this moment feeling the full brunt of disobeying the orders. Millions in those states have not played by the rules, and their hospitals are now full to capacity. Tens of thousands become sick every day. Yet still, they insist on their individual right to NOT wear masks, to not social distance. They will kill themselves before abandoning this president — who also does not wear the mask.
Our economy is teetering on the brink of ruin. Millions still unemployed or unable to go back to work. Other countries have banned us from coming for the foreseeable future.
Canada. Even the entire European Union!
We tire of endless (and exhausting) Zoom meetings, the hurried trips back to the car to grab the mask, the angry scowls towards those who flaunt the edicts from our scientists, and disappear bare-faced into the crowd of partiers.
The summer is blast-furnace hot. We stay inside our air-conditioned rooms to contemplate and discuss our white privilege and hope for a better world to emerge. The television still screams the rising numbers, the reporters still scream at our leaders, and we all silently scream inside that we want this all to be done with already.
Fall is coming and there is a palpable fear in the air. Fear about what happens when the virus finally topples out of control and sweeps down even into those places that WERE able to keep it at bay for weeks or even months — infecting us all. Fear about the possibly permanent IQ gap that threatens our children who may not be able to make it back into the schools. A growing fear of the economic meltdown that will arrive when the bills, the mortgages, and the rents finally come due.
I sit, not knowing exactly how much time has passed since we started down this road. A numbness has taken over. Missing, yet not missing, all the festivals and concerts and meetings and dinners out. Trying to keep a cross-border relationship going by Facetime and text. Starting to see the shrink again, but not knowing what to really talk about.
What does the future look like? Hoping against hope that this will be the dawn of a new Aquarius and that the youth will take up the reins and lead us into a bright and shiny future.
Calling all aliens…?