CV Diary 26: Our family reunion…at the funeral

Now that we’re starting our third year of this thing, it’s time to revisit our mass delusions…

1. On one level, it doesn't really matter if a state decides to close restaurants or require masks or institute other limitations in response to Omicron. People get sick, they stay home from work, and short-handed businesses or schools end up closing anyway. Everyone wants to argue as if it's a political question, but most of it has nothing to do with our tribes.
   
   
2. Despite the seeming contradiction, we are all in this together and also living in completely different worlds. I know people with hugely different perspectives on the risks of Covid, the right level of safety precautions, the balance point between government rescue plans and tyranny…and they sometimes think the people who disagree with them are on a different planet. But we’re all in this together as we deal with the same inability to find a good employee, supply shortages, gaps in medical care, inflation, etc. We’re all in this together, even if we aren’t all together on any of this.
   
   
3. Have you noticed that Covid is now the quick answer everyone gives for every problem that existed five years ago? The website is down because of Covid, the plumber didn’t show up because of Covid, the check is in the mail but it wasn’t delivered because of Covid. This is only a short-term aberration, though, because soon we’ll blame everything on the supply chain.
   
   
4. I’m always amused when people say they’ve lost a year due to Covid. We spent our time differently, even if we were merely adjusting to all the other people who were spending their time differently, but we all had lives that we dealt with for better or worse. The people who died can’t learn from the experience and lead better lives now, but the rest of us have the opportunity to learn from the year, or years, we’ve spent differently.
   
   
5. It’s true that we’re always living through history, but it’s rare that we get to see it unfold with such force and speed. This is the crisis our great-grandchildren will be reading about when they get hit with a pandemic 100 or 110 or 97 years from today. I know I won’t have to face their scorn, but I’m already embarrassed by how we will look to them.
   
   
6. Speaking of embarrassment, how do we look to the billions of people, billions, who are desperate for our cast-off vaccines as they watch us squabble over the treasure they seek? A little self-awareness would do us some good, although it could be very, very painful.
   
   
7. Is it my imagination or are things getting a bit quieter out there? Maybe it’s the onset of cold weather or the fact that people only have so much energy, but I’m not seeing as many protests, fiery school board meetings and death threats over mask mandates. Maybe it’s a sign things are calming down, or maybe it’s just that everyone is regrouping for 2022 elections.
   
   
8. I wonder about the next time I encounter some relatives and friends who disowned me over my views on vaccination, or the existence of the pandemic. It will undoubtedly be at a funeral, since I can’t imagine being invited to a Thanksgiving dinner or a wedding.
   
   

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