It is past time to vent about politics and COVID-19.
About a year ago (March 19) I stopped driving to campus to show up for work. I was one of the last ones in my department to do so. I began working from home exclusively from mid-March – mid-August.
COVID-19, SARS virus, had spread around the world via air
transmissions and killed people. A lot of people.
Over 500,000 alone in the United States. And counting.
I had to live through the despicable misinformation: It’s a fake virus / It’s
only a façade to destroy the president / It was created in a Chinese lab / It’s
not transmitted through air / Singing doesn’t make it more spreadable / It doesn't kill people. Living through that constant spin of disinforming cacophony was too much.
We had a president who did nothing or very little and primarily
lost his re-election because of that inaction. It was by far the weirdest
presidential politics I had ever seen. Just unfathomable.
The joy of seeing long lines of American citizens waiting
hours to vote. The stamina to defend the right to vote no matter the obstacles.
And belligerent court cases were tossed out one by one. No one believed the
election was rigged except for the lunatic fringe who stormed the Capitol, broke
windows, desecrated the holy temples of the House and the Senate, obscenely destroying
offices, killing police officers. Yet the electoral college votes were accepted.
No riot stopped democracy in action.
In mid-August, my department returned to each person showing
up on campus at least 2-days a week. Even with the increasing COVID numbers in
November and the campus going into a partial shutdown, my department continued to
show up each workday while other departments went home to work. We were still
there. We continued to support students often the only ones parking cars in the back lot November – January.
There were all kinds of societal stressors. Working from
home. Teaching from home. Disrupted schedules. Canceled sporting events. We
found out how important in-person elementary school instruction was to the
economy. Children wearing masks. Adults wearing masks – except for those who
didn’t believe the virus was real. We had friends who freaked out and went to
the other extreme too scared to breathe or to function. I’m not sure which
drove me nuttier – the disinformers/the fake theory supporters or the extreme fear people
– it would be a close call.
I went through stress – I missed family. I missed
opportunities to see family, my children, my mom. Each of us had similar missed
opportunities. We all grew tired of Zoom calls and virtual meetings.
The one thing a friend of mine told me during the fall is
still ringing true in my head – we will never be the same again.
We will never be the same again.
