Sunday, 21 June 2020

The future feels like the past

It's a curious thing.  While many people have lived through a variety of pandemics from Hong Kong Flu to AIDS, I don't think people have ever been asked -- instructed -- to isolate and social distance.

This smart strategy has saved millions of lives.  Long may it wave.

That said, no one woke up in February or March with the skills and mindset to maintain physical and mental health through this.  No one has past life experience to draw on for guidance.

Except, I've been thinking, childhood.

In many ways, this is childhood revisited.  I am no longer in control of my life.  There are rules about where I can go and what I can do.  There are limitations on everything.  And there are people I am not allowed to play with.  It feels a little like I have woken up in a Grimm Brothers' fairy tale.

True to form, I am attempting to eat my way out of the gingerbread house.