It Isn't Over

Some have said , "It's okay now. We are safe. It can all go back to normal now." Those people that say that are blind. They are all just so happy that it is "over". Only, it is not and it never will be. Everything and everyone has changed. The feeling you get at the store when someone coughs a few aisles over and suddenly you realize, what used to be something no one gave that much thought to, is seemingly the only thing happening in that moment. It's the fear and the anxiety that come with it. That is something that is now forever a part of us. That loneliness we all feel is gut wrenching. Wear your mask. Wash your hands. Care for your community. Love and unity," they said. It's been a year and suddenly everyone has forgotten how to be a decent person. How anyone could act like this didn't do permanent detrimental damage, is beyond my comprehension. Tell me who doesn't still break down when their kid gets a temperature or when they have a cough. Tell me that that fear is not still till this day, continuous. Your heart feels broken and your motivation for anything is long gone. 2020, if you didn't have panic attacks and constant fear before, you do now. Let me give you an example. During the pandemic, I had twins. When they were first born, I didn't allow them out of my sight. The nurses asked many times if I wanted them to take them to the nursery so I could rest but I refused. I couldn't imagine a total stranger taking care of my babies without someone I trusted there every second. They barely left my arms and when it was time to leave, I had a woman come in the give me some paperwork and she came in and took her mask off and got close to my daughters and I said very firmly for her to out her mask back on. She did but then she took it back off as she was walking out. My daughter pacie had come out and this woman picked up the nipple of her pacie and then tried to put it in my baby's mouth. I couldn't help it. I lost it. "OUT. Get out. For god's sake." I threw that pace away and told the nurses she was not to come back in there. When I brought them home, after a few weeks, I was told by someone I trusted that my babies were gonna hate me for being overprotective. I think anyone that survived the pandemic would agree that it was terrifying and still is. You had people physically fighting over toilet paper, people spitting in the faces of others, coughing in children's faces. The pandemic has forced out all of the crazy and carelessness. Nobody is safe anymore. The pandemic may be over but the chaos will never end. It never will because you see the changes it's made everywhere. "1 hand sanitizer per customer." "Do your part. Wear a mask." Some even lock up their toilet paper in the bathrooms in stores and have to keep the sanitizer locked up as well. You want to know why? Because it's still here. That terror is forever lingering and never to let us forget. The effects of the pandemic are everyone you go. It's in everyone you see or speak to. Some people like to pretend it's back to normal but they are kidding themselves in a big way. The world will never be the same and it's irresponsible of us to act like it is. Could you honestly look someone that lost everything (their job, their house, their partner, their family) in the eye and tell them that it's over? No. That is my point. The damage is done. It has swept through the world and turned everything upside down, then left. That doesn't make it over. It never will be because all the pieces have to pick up now. That's not a job we will be able to do alone. Ourselves and many generations after us are going to be picking up more pieces than we can handle. And, every time you pick one up, it pricks you and you bleed. See, it is not over. Those battle scars from picking up the pieces will be there forever and it's not possible to run away from it all because it affected the entire world. Nurses in Italy couldn'ttake all the death and sadness they were seeing. They took their own life. Parents have lost their children. Children have lost their parents, grandparents, sisters, brothers, aunts, uncles, cousins, wives, husbands, friends, teachers and preachers. Along with that, they've lost faith, hope, and strength. This has made the world a very scary place. It's a very dangerous and violent place anymore. Even if the fire is out, the smoke is still there. It fills the air so that the world always has that cloudy film across it. The darkness consumes the greater part of your life. Every person has something in their life that will never be the same because of covid. This end will never be. Everyone everywhere was affected by this hellish record that will never stop playing the same song over and over and over again. The truth of the matter is that although it's always going to be hard, we can't give up. You've got to be there for the people you love. You have got to try to glue some pieces back so that just maybe, the future world has a brighter chance than this one. Normalcy is a thing of the past for all of us, however, we can't afford to give up. Because, when we give up, that is when there is no hope or light for any future. That's when pieces start to fade and it becomes harder and harder, then impossible, to ever put back together. That's when it is truly...over.