The Next Step

After six months of dealing with this pandemic crisis, people are tired. Their nerves are tense and a small crisis can easily escalate into something much bigger. Things are running out of control and that feeling of normality seems to distance itself more and more from the present moment.

Travelling abroad, attending huge concerts, spending holidays with family members - everything is put on hold. Though life goes on. Life can`t be put on hold. We adapt and face the sad reality we are living.

People still hope for a miracle cure. Some are in complete denial of the whole thing while others volunteered for the vaccine`s clinical trial. Many talk about conspiracy theories, few raise their shoulders and say :"We are too small to change anything!"

Postponed until further notice. Cancelled. Closed. Shut down. Bankrupted. Dead. How often have we heard these words in the past months? How many of you heard the name of this virus on your children`s lips and felt their sadness, disappointment or fear?

2020 is an unusual year that will be remembered. I wonder how the history books will refer to it? The year when all went to hell? The biggest depression in the human history? The new era? The biggest hoax? Though we all know that the history is written by the winners and we can`t expect an objective point of view.

Canadians are usually known for being extremely polite and caring. A few hours spent in line at different government buildings, followed by another hours of lining up at certain business gave me the impression that things changed.

The new preventive measures implemented during the second wave of this pandemic got most of the people reach their limits. Besides the fact that every single thing takes way longer than usual, we get to experience first hand the power trips the chaining command, from the clerk to the cashier, from the door man to the manager, from the nurses to the doctors, topped with the law enforcement agencies that take it to a whole another level.

Don`t think the schools have been spared! The fear that has been spoon fed by the media to the parents has been passed down to their children. Nowadays the younger generations are afraid to play or communicate with their peers.

The teachers keep them into their "bubble" and in case one of them coughs (due to other reasons then Covid-19), the hysteria begins. Although protocols are in place, they are not respected. It makes much more sense to ask a six-year old to wear a mask when he has bronchitis than to actually call his parents to come and take him home.

What worries me the most about all this pandemic crisis is behavior of some individuals, not the virus itself. I noticed that this crisis that affected us all made some of us forget that we are all in the same boat. It sort of made us forget that we are human. I guess that once you turn on the switch for the survival mode, for some it becomes easy to turn a blind eye on other`s misery.

Though I can see how when everyone lives in fear of contracting the virus, of having long-lasting health issues due to it, fear of dying and so on, can justify his indifference due to the current situation.

Still, I find it strange to see that no one tries anymore to help an elderly person cross the street or climb up the stairs, that no one holds the doors for another person to enter, or allows a pregnant woman to sit down in the metro,etc.

If 2020 was supposed to be the year when we make it or break it, we failed. We failed miserably at so many levels. We blamed others and pointed fingers when we could have found an easier way to deal with it. But who cares about us anyway?

We are told what to think, what to do, how to react, how to spy on neighbors, how to be a good citizen and respect the law and the rules, though there are less and less voices talking for those in need.

In these strange times, those vulnerable are neglected, as all eyes on the Covid-19. Given that many businesses and establishments responsible to provide care and support to those less fortunate, they are left with little to no choices at all.

Many community centers, shelters and similar establishments had to close their doors once more due to the new restrictions, leaving many souls without a decent meal, a place to find comfort and be treated with dignity, or kids without a support buddy or a safe area to keep them off the streets.

Times like these are shaping each one of us, they are changing the entire community. Days like these make one understand what his priorities are and question his previous choices.

What is the next step? We shall find out soon as we have only a few months until 2021. Though I do have a somber hunch that things won`t get back to normal anytime sooner than 2022. Long way to go! By then we have all the time to get accustomed calling the new reality "normal".

Image by Gerd Altmann from Pixabay