A Flick of the Pen

Remember that time we had a global pandemic and then as soon as the mask mandate lifted, one country invaded another? WUT?!

I naively thought that once this isolation was over, we’d all stumble out of our homes blinking in the light and going, “Wow – other humans! People I’m not related to!” We’d open our arms to the nearest stranger and give them a bear hug. Nope. No such thing.

While some of us were trying our hand at baking sourdough bread, learning a new language, or just trying to stay sane throughout the monotony of staring at the same four walls for two years, others were busy plotting world domination.

Here’s another horrifyingly naive thought I’d had perhaps just six months ago. I was pondering the history of the world and how so many regions were shaped by ongoing invasions. I told myself, “Thank goodness that doesn’t happen anymore. In a social media-connected world where everyone exists under a microscope and everything bad makes the news, no way could a marauder get away with that behavior anymore.”

Between the plague and invasions, the years 2020-2022 are shaping up to be like the Middle Ages all over again, just with smart phones, selfies, and duck lips tossed into the mix.

How about sitting around a campfire and singing “Kumbaya” together? No? Then at the very least, let’s enforce isolation again until we’re all ready to be civil.