So I, like many of you, have been on edge lately. I come home, pick things up, put them down, follow my wife and dogs around the house, look out the window, and find myself unable to focus on one task for too long, even relaxing ones.
It may sound thick, but I couldn’t quite put my finger on what exactly was bugging me, except for the constant headlines about our failing planet, the erosion of the democratic norms, the triumphant return of school shootings and other fun features of the year.
But as Orwell said, to see what’s in front of your face takes no small amount of work. I think I’ve figured out what’s bugging me. And be warned—I do not come off as the good guy here.
Before, we had no vaccines, let alone boosters. So we hunkered down, worked from home if we could, went out wearing masks if we couldn’t, and endured the winter and 2020 election with the understanding that vaccines would bring some much needed light to the overall situation.
I can only imagine what health care workers and other frontline figures went through. I can tell you we teachers spent the last several months yelling at kids to wear their masks, reading stories about school board meetings erupting into episodes of Celebrity Roast, with administrators escorted out by security because attendees were threatening them over health and safety precautions they deemed Marxist. We adapted as best we could, waiting for sunnier days.
Then the vaccines became widely available, but a good chunk of the U.S. decided they weren’t gonna go there, my body my choice, no mandates, freedom, blah blah blah.
And a good chunk of this country are still on about No masks, face diapers, Covid is just a cold, indoctrination, blah blah blah.
But another good chunk of us got vaccinated and boosted. But Delta still came, and now Omicron has taken center stage. I think it’s like 70 percent of all new infections at present.
And now it turns out Omicron is very, very good at infecting people who have been vaxxed and boosted, which means we can still transmit it to vulnerable people. All of this just in time for the holidays, a brief respite from the torrent of shit we’ve been doused in for the year. DuPage county infection rates skyrocketed over the past week to a level we haven’t seen since a year ago.
So if we’re going to be responsible, we have to hunker down at home yet again in order to avoid infecting the people who can’t (or, worse, won’t) get vaccinated or wear masks. Except at work, where I guess some of us dumb sons of bitches are still expected to report for duty, and where we dumb sons of bitches will show up, because mortgages and kids’ college funds, blah blah blah.
Meanwhile, those who gonna be dumb, gonna dumb away, ignoring the pandemic, playing Twister or building human pyramids during bar trivia night or whatever, ensuring more variants, more infections, more deaths, etc.
I’m never going to win Humanitarian of the Year Award. I mean, I’ll do what I can to keep from killing other people with a virus that many not manifest itself with outward symptoms, but I’m never going to get over the fact that I’m taking precautions to keep people safe who can’t be bothered to step back two feet to keep from infecting me or my family. So yes, I’m a small, petty man after all. Whatever. I’ll keep my distance, you’re welcome.
I always sort of knew how selfish and stupid we were. I just wasn’t ready to see it all at once like this. 
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