If nothing else, the Centers for Disease Control and the political establishment showed "we the people" that "science" is flexible depending on the agenda and that all COVID restrictions have been political. How many small businesses collapsed because of government interference! How many independent restaurants closed! This issue is close to home because my yoga studio and Pilates studio were unable to survive the forced closures followed by limited re-openings with social distancing. Really, if 80% of stopping the spread of a virus - including flu and COVID - involves hand-washing. Add a mask and common sense and every small business could have safely stayed open and thriving. Instead, the hopes and dreams of many main street Americans, including immigrants, fell victim to the politicization of the virus.
And what of the millions of school children and college students that lost an entire year of in -person teaching, socialization, engagement, sports, extra curricular activities, and growth? Some of the most at risk children will never regain what was lost! Hopefully, the American public will remember the teachers' unions that abandoned their students while lobbying for additional benefits and public support.
The hypocrisy and hubris of the media, political class, unions, educators, social activists, do-gooders, talking heads, protesters, apologists, and state courts has been mind numbing. Schools were closed, but cigarette factories were deemed essential businesses. Liquor stores stayed open, but restaurants had to close. Wineries could not have tastings, but fast food joints stayed open. Hair and nail salons closed, but convenience stores stayed open,
States and businesses used COVID as an excuse to automate and replace humans with machines. Do you think the toll operators will ever rehire people to sit at a toll booth? Think fast food restaurants will ever replace the ordering kiosks with order takers /cashiers? Especially if such businesses are required to pay $15 per hour!
So, "celebrities" argue that the brilliant capitalist pharmaceutical companies and scientists that created several effective vaccines in less than a year to combat the virus should share their research with the world! I don't see those hypocrites donating millions of their own dollars to support research and development! There is a reason nobody watches these self -obsessed, self congratulatory, under educated morons self congratulate any longer.
If nothing else, COVID has taught many of us the value of our families, immediate circle of friends, letting go of social media, turning off the partisan news, the beauty of home, the gloriousness of the family unit, and the celebration of the truly essential workers: truck drivers, grocery store workers, meat packers, farmers, bus drivers, train engineers, nurses, doctors, janitors, retail workers, butchers, factory workers, EMTs, tutors, vintners, and Amazon! Sorry, folks, Jeff Bezos deserves his billions!
Now, I've been vaccinated. I had my hair sheared short. One of the cats died. The truck died. We bought a 1946 Hudson convertible. We celebrated our15th wedding anniversary and my dad's 89th birthday. I've decided I'm okay with facing the final years of my career without opportunity. I bought a Pilates reformer to practice at home, a new iPhone and new iPad. I've started planning for retirement- thinking about moving to a place that tends to reject extremism. I've unfriended on social media those that want to argue with everything I say.
I'm looking for peace and contentment.
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