Where do we go from here? Dawn Summers
The world is upside down right now. People are getting very sick from a virus that is many times more contagious than the flu. Businesses are closing their doors without knowing if there will be a tomorrow. Families are facing extended isolation and an uncertain future.
All of this happened in a matter of weeks. The first 120 days of 2020 have been the roughest yet, and given the way things have been going for the past five years, that’s saying something.
Here we are, stuck at home living out Bill Murray’s comedy hit Groundhog Day. We’re finding ourselves telling our children to stay inside. Going to the grocery store is a risk. Simply going to the park is now seen as an offense to those that sacrifice social existence in the name of flattening the curve.
Now as some states are risking public safety in the name of economic relief, I’m left more puzzled than ever as to what type of world we’re going to live in after COVID-19 has passed is far from an answer.
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As the cast from Buffy the Vampire Slayer sang in its epic musical episode Once More, with Feeling: “Where do we go from here?”
To many sitting isolated in their homes, returning to business, as usual, is a moral dilemma akin to driving while intoxicated. It’s a game of Russian roulette and everyone around the world is playing.
While some feel the risks associated with COVID-19 are far lower than the media touts, others heed the warnings of medical professionals that insist the flattening of the curve is the only way we can prevent an overwhelming of the medical system. A situation that carried a nearly 10% mortality rate for a time in Italy.
As for my family, we’ve spent the past month staying at home. We’ve ordered groceries to be delivered or picked up in a no-contact fashion at the local H-E-B or Walmart. It’s a luxury not everyone has, and one that we are thankful to have.
Still, I’ve rushed out to the store to pick up last-minute items. I’ve stopped at drive-through restaurants knowing that the workers only partially adopted the safety policies being boasted on their corporate websites.
We’re trying to work while taking care of a rambunctious almost-three-year-old. Granted, we’re rarely as successful as we want to be, but we are adapting to this new normal with a type of slow sluggishness our son applies to his potty training.
While I certainly enjoy working from home, I do look forward to being able to sit at my desk at work and meet the coworkers I’ve thus far only interacted with on Slack or Zoom in person.
We would love to take our son to Costco to take in the sights and pick out new books to enjoy. He even loves Costco’s hot dogs. Our bi-weekly trips were part of our routine, and something he looked forward to.
For this very avid introvert, COVID-19 has tested the limits of my willingness to simply shut the outside world out and live through the virtual connections made possible by the Internet. I find myself wanting to do the very things I took for granted (and even actively avoided) just two months ago.
COVID-19 may well have had one lasting positive change in the world. It has allowed us to take a step back and appreciate the small things being in a society brings us.