Just finished editing the account of the Covid 19 pandemic, aka Damncovid, that my friend/cousin and I wrote during the times -- from 2020 through 2023. Phew... it was a job... interesting. Many of you may recall reading in this blog some time ago that we began this "project" to record the stories of two rural Nanas and their families during the pandemic. As it stands now, the audience will be limited to current family and to generations on down the line. It is a universal story, yet personal as well.
Anyway -- we wrote daily, communicating via email. I wrote in the mornings, she in the evenings -- each sharing the events of our lives and feelings, including some fears and confusion as we worked our way through the challenges of living in and through a pandemic. Needless to say our experiences may differ from yours, but I am thinking that they share common issues as well. We both agree that the writing helped us get through those times the way hoped we would. We had positive goals. We helped each other. We consider ourselves and our families to be very fortunate. We are thankful.
Although the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services declared the COVID-19 Pandemic officially over as of May 11, 2023 , many of us in rural America felt the end much earlier and transitioned away from emergency procedures well before for that time. In fact… many of us were able to live relatively normal lives during the three years preceding the official end. Some of us did not play the game at all or played only when it was deemed unavoidable or in respect of other people's fears. I think, in some ways, that rural America felt sorry for city dwellers ... even the ones who look down on us -- thinking that their way of life is somehow better. Ironic, isn't it?
Also important to remember is that all lives across the entire world were touched in some way by the pandemic. Many were touched in a close, painfully personal way with loss of loved ones and friends. Other lives were forever changed by the fears of the pandemic – many of which were exaggerated by those in leadership as they struggled to control an independent thinking populace. The pandemic had a vast array of side-effects including separating friendships and dividing families. The distrust of authority, medicine, and government bubbled above the surface and continues to seep and spread. Tragic on so many levels. Such sad side-effects are a part of a pandemic story for sure even though they are, perhaps, overlooked to some degree. For example, there is a tendency for some not to remember that they wanted to put the non-vaxed (of which I am one) into concentration camps and that they basically treated/shunned them like they had serious cooties and were responsible for the ills of the whole world.
Anyway -- Our chronical of those times runs from March 13, 2020 to mid 2022. It is long; it is a reminder; it is a story of coming out at the other end of the tunnel, perhaps a bit bumped and bruised, but nevertheless stronger, and hopefully more compassionate, kinder people... thankful to be survivors.
We are playing with titles. They are... View from Two Porches and the more sarcastic Two Weeks to Slow the Spread. The second title suggested by my son. Having a hard time deciding. Ideas?
One note... it is amazing how much time softens. Many struggles even get pushed way back into dark, hide to find, corners. Perhaps, though, it is good to remember all the parts. Perhaps remembering helps to explain the current insanity of the world... people reacting to being forced into isolation or to being pressured to take an experimental drug inaccurately labeled a vaccine... a decision that more and more people now seriously regret. Many current, demonstrators are caught up in rebellion for the sake of rebellion. Ignorant as they are, they now feel empowered to force their opinions on others - and also believe that they have the right to interfere and complicate the day to day lives of others. Is this because they saw the government get away with such behavior? Wish I knew how to make things better. Perhaps writing and documenting will help in the long run. Hope so.
One thing I do know -- I hope none of us ever have to go through a pandemic again. Another thing I know... I am sick and tired of angry screamers and hateful faces. I am also bored with the lack of sense of humor and humanity of those particular woke who think they have some "special" kind of awareness that gives them rights above others ... that somehow entitles them to condescend to those who may disagree with them on the issues of the day.
It is time to move forward and put the tunnel behind. We need to see that there is light at the other end. We need to begin again and to remember who we are and who we want to be. We need to listen and to think.
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