I thought I didn’t have anything to say. This week it seemed as though I had nothing to say. How could that be? I have a perspective, just a nice way of saying OPINION, on just about everything. Somehow either the end of 2020 or the beginning of 2021 was rendering me speechless.
The more I read other people’s perspectives on the end of this year and/or the “new normal” next year the more I realized that I thought I didn’t have something profound to add to the topic. So I turned as I often do to Google.
Since I was concerned that my thoughts were not profound first I searched for a definition: having or showing great knowledge or insight. This begs a definition of great. Again I turn to an expert definition: an extent, amount, or intensity considerably above the normal or average.
Now I have to ask myself: do I have a knowledge that is above normal or average? What is normal, what is the average person’s thought on the vaccine, masks, normal, and the election?
Why does a talking head on TV have more insight into a pandemic that they never lived through? How is anyone an expert on a president for the first time in history is likely to be absent from an inauguration that is mandated by the constitution?
I don’t think I am a pessimist although others may disagree. A vaccine does not count until it is in MY arm. As of the second to the last day of the year, 11 million vaccines went out but only 2 million have been injected into an arm. Vaccines don’t count until someone has been vaccinated.
THIS IS IMPORTANT because we can’t find a new normal until people feel safe to resume life in some way. I believe NO ONE knows if remote workers will stay remote or when people will feel comfortable attending a concert. Being vaccinated is a big step and we don’t have clarity on when that will happen.
The new normal is going to be more of a dimmer switch than a light switch: brightness will be increased slowly. No one is going to flip a switch and life will be as it was 12 months ago. Slowly people will start to resume life in little ways like going to a restaurant or going more often, getting on a plane on a regular basis, concerts and sporting events being held again. It will be little by little that vaccine will brighten the intensity of our lives.
