COVID: A Moment in Time
Hmmm, will it pass anyquicker if we hide from it?
Our second COVID summeris now behind us, although all that really means is that we are now in oursecond COVID autumn. We are not locked down which I guess is something forwhich to be grateful. But the fourth wave is keeping us masked and in many waysstill restricted.
Vaccine passports arenow the hot topic of conversation. On this issue there really is no middleground. We are hopelessly divided as a society. There is pro and there is con andnever the twain shall meet. Restaurant staff have the unenviable task of havingto enforce the passport policy – forced to be the bad guy in place of theregulators who make the rules.
We found our way througha COVID election which turned out to be the most useless election in Canadianhistory. It changed absolutely nothing in the House of Parliament. $610 flusheddown the bottomless pit of bureaucracy. The party that received the most votesonce again did not win which some find distressing. But that is low on my listof things I would like to see changed.
The NHL is gearing upfor another season with the prospect of substantial fans in the stands onceagain. But some players are standing on principle and refusing to bevaccinated. The league is tiptoeing around the issue with restrictions and sanctionswhile giving teams the right to suspend players who refuse to be vaccinated.
Working at home is stilla reality for many people. Deadline after deadline for returning to the officeor workplace has been cancelled or pushed forward. Meanwhile, senior managementare grappling with the minefield of vaccine policy – often searching for a safemiddle ground that may not exist.
Children are back inschool but socially distanced and masked. It is anybody’s guess whether or notin-person classes will last. And this just in: Toronto’s Medical Officer ofHealth is recommending that Ontario require vaccination for students who areeligible based on their age.
The new televisionseason is about to launch which lends some spice to our dreary lives in thecurrent circumstances. But our favourite actors in our favourite series areoften wearing face masks and writers are embedding the pandemic into plotlines. We cannot escape COVID even when we turn on the television to escape fora while.
What has any of this got to do with the photo at the head of this post? Absolutely nothing, and everything, simultaneously.
The point is that justabout everything in our lives at the moment is interpreted in light of, orfiltered through the lens of, COVID. No single issue in recent memory has soinfiltrated our lives and our minds. Even our language is changing.
But turn off thetelevision, the radio and your mobile device (yes, the mobile device too) andtake off your mask. Go for a walk on a nature trail where no one can imposetheir will on you and it does not matter whether or not you are vaccinated. Outthere nothing has changed
The Great Blue Heronstill stalks through the swamp in search of a meal and is quite happy to letyou watch. Life goes on there as it always has.
COVID is only a momentin time. It will not pass any quicker if we hide from it. But what we misswhile we are hiding can never be regained.
~ Now Available Onlinefrom Amazon, Chapters Indigo or Barnes & Noble: Hunting Muskie, Rites ofPassage – Stories by Michael Robert Dyet
~ Michael Robert Dyet is alsothe author of Until the Deep Water Stills – An Internet-enhanced Novel whichwas a double winner in the Reader Views Literary Awards 2009. Visit Michael’swebsite at www.mdyetmetaphor.com .
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