Mania

When I decided to create a speakers’ corner for this website,

I thought I would avoid the major topic of the day. I’m sure you can guess what I’m referring to, the one that takes up gigatons of data in your news feed and that you’re all sick and tired of but can’t seem to avoid. So I apologize in advance for forcing it upon you once more. 

Covid. And people’s reactions to it. 

The old saying, “Common sense is not so common,” has been illustrated time and again with the help of this pandemic. For the last two years, I’ve been trying to walk the line between negligence and outright panic, which at the start I didn’t think was in any way a rare or special outlook to hold. However, just yesterday I witnessed some extreme attitudes on display. 

First, a woman sneered in my direction and scolded me for not wearing a mask while waiting for the bus. We were outdoors, and I was about three times the requisite distance away from here. The odds of her catching my germs were just about zero. She also only took the bus for about 6 blocks, so if she was so worried I’m not sure why she didn’t just walk. But that’s another story. 

Later on, I went into a park changing room to take off my skates after playing hockey. Three people had decided to treat it as a personal gym, huffing and puffing as they lifted weights and did a training circuit. These people were completely unmasked and obviously unconcerned about the spread of disease through the population. Not the most caring bunch.

I don’t know which one is worse. Imagine if everyone was like the bossy woman. How annoying and dreary life would be. But at least we’d be safe. If everyone were like the three exercisers, on the other hand, we could do whatever we felt like, but such a cavalier attitude towards the health of others cannot bode well for society.

I’m far from the first to advocate the middle way. Wise men for generations have urged others to avoid dogmatic extremism, to be compassionate and to reevaluate their ideas in light of their experience. And I’m certainly far from the first who is disappointed with the ‘one step forward two steps back’ trajectory we’ve followed down this path.