I am getting really tired of people saying, “I can’t wait for things to get back to normal.”
As I write this, we are starting month five of dealing with coronavirus, and it really should be month six. Somehow, this country is an even worse position than when this started. The number of cases are skyrocketing by the day, driven by positive testing rates that are frightening and infuriating. Our hospitals are still stretched to their limits. We still do not have enough tests. The economy is still a disaster. Worst of all, we’re still have a fucking debate about whether or not to wear masks.
Yet despite all of this, many people I know keep pining for normal to return. What makes them think that’s ever going to happen at this point? Because, guess what, it’s not, and we need to be honest about that.
I remember having similar thoughts walking down the streets of D.C. after 9/11, and walking past a tank stationed outside my apartment building for about four months. There were snipers on my roof because we lived on a main road that the President and other leaders took to get through the city.
The tanks and snipers left, but life never fully returned to the way it was on Sept. 10, 2001. We’ve been at war in the Middle East for nearly two decades now. Getting on an airplane remains a ridiculously overwrought ordeal, as hapless TSA agents rummage through luggage and throw out baby formula.
That terrorist attack led to the creation of the Department of Homeland Security, which has been weaponized under the Trump administration. You can paint a direct line from the creation of DHS to Trump’s racist Muslim ban. Our world has never been the same since that awful Tuesday morning.
I understand that the American default is to be optimistic. But we’ve pushed the logical boundaries of optimism since March, led by our president and Republicans who keep lying to us about the severity of this pandemic. Our response became politicized, we are now the world’s laughingstock, and thousands of Americans have died unnecessarily.
Just this morning, Mark Meadows was on television lying to the American public that this disease is harmless to 99 percent of the population. If you know just one person who has suffered from coronavirus, even if they survived, you know this is bullshit.
Instead of people thinking about when life will return to what it was, we need to shift the discussion asap to what life looks like from here on out. There’s no vaccine coming tomorrow. There doesn’t even appear to be a strong therapy in the pipeline.
Other countries, especially those in Asia that dealt with previous pandemics, seemed to quickly and innately comprehend the fundamental shift that was occurring. They stayed home en masse for months as their governments ramped up testing and contact tracing, while developing an acute understanding on the importance of masks.
These other countries are moving forward with their new normal. While team sports in the United States remain at least a month away, they’ve been going on for months already in other parts of the world. Korean baseball. European soccer. Australian rules football. These sports have returned with a shockingly low number of positive tests because those countries have it under control. Formula 1 returned on Sunday after a week’s worth of testing that identified zero (0!) positive cases of coronavirus.
Here? NWSL’s Orlando team couldn’t play this season because too many of its players went out to bars and got infected. College football teams have reported dozens of positive tests per team as players return to campus. The Basketball Tournament returned this weekend and multiple teams had to pull out. The NBA’s positivity rate for players has been hovering around 7 percent as I type this. Within the hour, the Washington Nationals canceled practice today because test results are delayed, coming after 2 players already tested positive. How are we playing baseball in two weeks?
I love New Japan Pro Wrestling and, this upcoming weekend, they’re letting fans back into the building. The arena will only be at 30% capacity and masks are required. In France, the French Open returns in September with fans, at no more than 60% capacity with masks required.
I am sure Japanese wrestling fans and French tennis fans would love to act like it’s 2018. But they understand the world is different now. Why don’t we?
The way we acted in February 2020 will be the last time we acted that way. Ever. I don’t know why we can’t accept this truth. Maybe because it’s an election year, maybe because our president is a moron, or maybe it’s because no one wants to be the bad guy. The sooner we accept that truth, the sooner we can get to finally flattening the curve and getting this horrible disease under control.
The notion that a vaccine will magically appear and fix everything is comically absurd and depressingly sad. Even a proven treatment is not going to automatically set our clocks back to February.
Instead, we’ll never be the same. At a micro level, think about our hygiene. We made a lot of jokes at the onset that we’re going to be washing our hands more. Well, for the love of God, let’s hope we keep doing that.
At a macro level, our economy and our way of life will be forever altered. Telework is becoming more than just accepted, but a preferred method of employment for many companies, especially those in the tech sector. The hospitality industry must adapt. Our government needs to fundamentally change to better address the needs of citizens. How is our healthcare system this bad? Why does unemployment pay more than employment?
In the wake of the Black Lives Matter protests, it became clear that the “status quo” was no longer acceptable. We don’t want a return to normal, in any shape or form, when it comes to race relations.
We need to understand as a citizenry that our daily lives are not returning to normal either. And that’s okay. This can be a moment to reimagine and reinvent how our country operates on a daily basis, as well as how we respond to crisis and care for our most vulnerable.
For now, I have a simple request to help get us there. The next time someone says, “I can’t wait for things to return to normal,” tell them, “It won’t.” They may be annoyed at your response and that’s okay. The truth can be an awful pill to swallow.
As we’ve seen with the mask debacle -- I mean, debate -- disputing facts only delays the inevitable and makes things much, much worse.
Let’s make our new normal a better world. Our old normal is gone, and that doesn’t have to be a bad thing.
Follow me on Twitter
Yet despite all of this, many people I know keep pining for normal to return. What makes them think that’s ever going to happen at this point? Because, guess what, it’s not, and we need to be honest about that.
I remember having similar thoughts walking down the streets of D.C. after 9/11, and walking past a tank stationed outside my apartment building for about four months. There were snipers on my roof because we lived on a main road that the President and other leaders took to get through the city.
The tanks and snipers left, but life never fully returned to the way it was on Sept. 10, 2001. We’ve been at war in the Middle East for nearly two decades now. Getting on an airplane remains a ridiculously overwrought ordeal, as hapless TSA agents rummage through luggage and throw out baby formula.
That terrorist attack led to the creation of the Department of Homeland Security, which has been weaponized under the Trump administration. You can paint a direct line from the creation of DHS to Trump’s racist Muslim ban. Our world has never been the same since that awful Tuesday morning.
I understand that the American default is to be optimistic. But we’ve pushed the logical boundaries of optimism since March, led by our president and Republicans who keep lying to us about the severity of this pandemic. Our response became politicized, we are now the world’s laughingstock, and thousands of Americans have died unnecessarily.
Just this morning, Mark Meadows was on television lying to the American public that this disease is harmless to 99 percent of the population. If you know just one person who has suffered from coronavirus, even if they survived, you know this is bullshit.
Instead of people thinking about when life will return to what it was, we need to shift the discussion asap to what life looks like from here on out. There’s no vaccine coming tomorrow. There doesn’t even appear to be a strong therapy in the pipeline.
Other countries, especially those in Asia that dealt with previous pandemics, seemed to quickly and innately comprehend the fundamental shift that was occurring. They stayed home en masse for months as their governments ramped up testing and contact tracing, while developing an acute understanding on the importance of masks.
These other countries are moving forward with their new normal. While team sports in the United States remain at least a month away, they’ve been going on for months already in other parts of the world. Korean baseball. European soccer. Australian rules football. These sports have returned with a shockingly low number of positive tests because those countries have it under control. Formula 1 returned on Sunday after a week’s worth of testing that identified zero (0!) positive cases of coronavirus.
Here? NWSL’s Orlando team couldn’t play this season because too many of its players went out to bars and got infected. College football teams have reported dozens of positive tests per team as players return to campus. The Basketball Tournament returned this weekend and multiple teams had to pull out. The NBA’s positivity rate for players has been hovering around 7 percent as I type this. Within the hour, the Washington Nationals canceled practice today because test results are delayed, coming after 2 players already tested positive. How are we playing baseball in two weeks?
I love New Japan Pro Wrestling and, this upcoming weekend, they’re letting fans back into the building. The arena will only be at 30% capacity and masks are required. In France, the French Open returns in September with fans, at no more than 60% capacity with masks required.
I am sure Japanese wrestling fans and French tennis fans would love to act like it’s 2018. But they understand the world is different now. Why don’t we?
The notion that a vaccine will magically appear and fix everything is comically absurd and depressingly sad. Even a proven treatment is not going to automatically set our clocks back to February.
Instead, we’ll never be the same. At a micro level, think about our hygiene. We made a lot of jokes at the onset that we’re going to be washing our hands more. Well, for the love of God, let’s hope we keep doing that.
At a macro level, our economy and our way of life will be forever altered. Telework is becoming more than just accepted, but a preferred method of employment for many companies, especially those in the tech sector. The hospitality industry must adapt. Our government needs to fundamentally change to better address the needs of citizens. How is our healthcare system this bad? Why does unemployment pay more than employment?
In the wake of the Black Lives Matter protests, it became clear that the “status quo” was no longer acceptable. We don’t want a return to normal, in any shape or form, when it comes to race relations.
We need to understand as a citizenry that our daily lives are not returning to normal either. And that’s okay. This can be a moment to reimagine and reinvent how our country operates on a daily basis, as well as how we respond to crisis and care for our most vulnerable.
For now, I have a simple request to help get us there. The next time someone says, “I can’t wait for things to return to normal,” tell them, “It won’t.” They may be annoyed at your response and that’s okay. The truth can be an awful pill to swallow.
As we’ve seen with the mask debacle -- I mean, debate -- disputing facts only delays the inevitable and makes things much, much worse.
Let’s make our new normal a better world. Our old normal is gone, and that doesn’t have to be a bad thing.
Follow me on Twitter
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