The End of the World As We Know It

Don’t shake my hand or give me a hug. A cough or sneeze causes high alert. And just when you might feel as though you’ve got this down and we’re learning to live with the new pathogen, similar to how hospitals and people deal with the flu annually, along comes delta and, later, omicron. They’re going to have to start naming them like hurricanes.

Somehow, this deadly pandemic has ushered in a new public movement. We’ve experienced the Great Depression and the Great Recession, and now we’ve got the Great Resignation. For the first time in my lifetime, businesses are having a seriously difficult time finding and keeping employees. Across decades, boards of directors have kept their sights singularly focused on the bottom line, showing little concern for the ever-widening, obscene gap between front line pay vs management compensation. To see them paying well over minimum to attract and retain workers does my heart good.

The most puzzling societal shift I’ve witnessed is the worshipful attitude that tens of millions have lavished on a two-bit phony. I get that even the best of the press can be biased, and I’ve chosen to seriously curtail my intake of news programming. These devotees of the last office holder, though, were satisfied with their lone channel for infotainment and then they got two more. Now, they can receive further confirmation that the election was stolen, and they firmly believe still today. I’ve studied some history, enough to see particular politics carried in and washed out on waves. In the midst of the current currents, it’s hard to see our way to more civil discourse.

It’s important for me to keep in mind that almost everyone is unsure these days, with the whole world set topsy-turvy. I am not uniquely affected by doubts or insecurities, limits on contact with others, and a search for connection in this new age – and neither are you. We are all in this together, irrespective of which view we take.