Monday, March 8, 2021

THE REALITY WE WANT VERSUS THE TRUE REALITY

 I worked in  healthcare in a very rural part of West Africa in the 70's. I saw a few epidemics, including one or two that had been "eliminated" and as a result anyone who diagnosed that would be considered a "reactionary" and "enemy of the people." As you might well imagine,  neither of those two things was a good thing to be.  Denying reality for political reasons is not a good thing. People die needlessly. I was almost one of them. (And I'll keep the details of that to myself, thank you--not everything needs to "shared").

So when COVID  raised its ugly head, I took one look at the Administration, and knew, beyond the shadow of a doubt, that we were in for a rough ride, and that FUBAR would most likely best describe the administration's response. I was, unfortunately for 500,000 Americans, correct.

We went into self-isolation back in February of 2020. It's been over a year. Yes, it's getting a bit tiring. But I know from experience, that moving too quickly to end our self-imposed restrictions would just negate the entire year's efforts. So now, we've gotten out first vaccine injections, and are quietly sitting out the first two week period to maximum immunity.  We'll relax a little bit--go to more than just one store. (double-masked of course, and at a time when we know there will be little foot traffic). And then the next vaccination and another two weeks. 

Yes, it's been a tough year for almost everyone. But we're almost through the worst of it. So let's hope we learn something from the experience. We live in the greatest social experiment ever attempted in the history of this planet. An experiment to see if the wildest mixture of people ever can come up with the best society ever. We've come a long way in a short time (250 years is not much in the history of the world).  And we have a lot we could do to make things better for most of us. Lots of things we  like to think are "eliminated" are not. As I saw in Africa, hiding from the truth is never a smart move.

Maybe, just maybe, it's time to stop mistaking the reality we would like for the true reality.