I think it is official. We all live in Crazy Town. I keep seeing more and more people without masks, crammed in tight places, in large groups, indoors. I hear people talk like it's all over, that the virus has been vanquished, that happy days are here again. And while I would love that to be so, I am fairly certain it is not the case. According to most papers, websites, news shows, and even some politicians (who always want things to be going great when they are in office) the numbers are going up of both infections, and deaths. Worldwide, it looks awful. Nationwide, also awful. Locally, I just found out yesterday a kid I teach has it. A kid. Like not even in high school yet kid. How scary is that? I am hoping she will recover, and based on her health, I think she will. But weren't young people supposed to be immune? Wasn't it only the elderly or immuno-compromised that we were sacrificing on the altar of the virsus? What happened? If only there was some large, worldwide organization of doctors and scientists who could help us understand what is happening, what we should do moving forward, and how we can be safe about re-opening. Or at least, if only we have national center of some type that dealt with diseases that could give us daily, or at bare minimum weekly updates and press conferences on the situation. Hell, I'd be happy with just a monthly one. If only.
I would love to not have to wear a mask. I would love to go to a movie theatre, sit in a sold out house, and watch some silly summer movie with lots of explosions, cheesy music, and bad puns. I'd really love to be able to do some theatre and have more than twenty-five percent audiences. I'd love to be able to teach my playwriting class at the DCPA. To fly out to California or Wisconsin or New York and give my peeps big hugs. I really would. But I can't and won't at the expense of someone else's health. To me, that seems wrong. Sadly, more and more, I feel like this is not the universal attitude. It's more than a feeling. It's a certainty. I see older folks, some who I know have recently had heart surgery, playing golf with no masks, riding in golf carts with their grand children who have been out partying the night before. I walk by the local park, and see tons of people out, in huge groups, sweating away, thinking that being outdoors is a cure all. Maybe it is. Maybe it isn't. What could be the worse case scenario? And why worry about that?Well, I'll tell you. I think that worst thing would be a lot more people dead and dying. So many that any attempt to compare the number of people dead from the virus to the number of people dead from the flu would seem laughably stupid, an archaic joke from that simpler time known as March, 2020. That would suck. A lot. And on top of that, if the rates continue on their current trends, I imagine that soon we will have another shut down. One that makes the first seem like a picnic.
I get it. I love magical thinking. I do it all the time. When my mom was dying of cancer, I tried to will the cancer away every day. I'd try and make deals with the moon. I'd face the west, raise my hands to the sky, and try to cast a spell that would heal her. It is a natural thing to do. A human one. But one thing I never did was offer her a cigarette. Or tell her to eat more processed food. Or expose herself to hazardous material. Because I am fairly certain that would have made a terrible situation somehow more terrible.And that is what I think some of us are doing. Gleefully. Full of smarm and condescension. And a semi-menacing glare at those of us still wearing masks. It's a confusing, scary time. A time of change and worry. And I don't want to get on a rant against my fellow human beings who see things differently. I just want a little more caution. A little more consideration of the facts. And of getting facts from more reliable sources than our own wishes that this be over.
And if wishes were horses, we'd all ride.
I've a feeling we are all in Crazy Town.
Here's a song. It's Boston, doing More than a Feeling.
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