COVID FATIGUE. That is a term that seems permanently added to our collective vocabulary, much like social distancing and other related terms. I can’t think of anyone who is NOT tired of the pandemic. We are tired of wearing masks, staying at home, and in general refraining from doing things that seem natural or desirable. We all long to go back to a normal life – a life that is normal to us, and not the new normal that we hear so much about. We wish that the pandemic would just go away.
Today I’m going to vent about some things related to the pandemic that I am getting increasingly tired of. For one thing, I’m getting increasingly tired of those people whom I will refer to as nay sayers. These folks continue to maintain that there is no pandemic – that all the commotion about COVID-19 is a master-minded conspiracy to control the world and its inhabitants. Shutting down travel, telling us to stay home, making us wear masks in public, it’s all about taking away our rights and freedoms, according to these nay-sayers.
At first there were many people who thought and said that. Now that the number of infections all over the world is continuing to escalate, fewer people maintain that position, but there are still a few who hang on to that notion. They talk about infection numbers being manipulated or misrepresented, and they like to remind us about how many people die of cancer, suicide, drug overdose, heart disease and other “pre-existing causes”. What these people don’t seem to “get” is that every death, by whatever means, is a tragedy for somebody. They also don’t get that Covid-19 can indeed cause death – and very quickly in some cases. Even if there is a pre-existing condition, when Covid 19 appears on the death certificate, it means that a cancer patient could still be alive, but for Covid 19. I’m tired of listening to the disrespectful way that these nay-sayers speak of those who have died.
I’m also tired of the many non-experts who pontificate about a lot of things that they know very little, or nothing at all about. People who know very little about medicine, or even science for that matter, are getting on their soapbox to lecture us about a variety of subjects like the dangers of wearing a mask, and even the potential danger of taking a vaccine, or why it’s OK to ignore the advice of true medical experts about not singing in public or gathering in groups. Yes, everyone is entitled to his or her opinion, and everyone has the right to express that opinion, but since there are so many conflicting opinions on these matters, I’m not inclined to listen to every opinion, unless it comes from someone who is qualified.
Then there are the self-proclaimed legal experts who whine about how their charter rights are being violated by covid restrictions. Most people who sound off about rights, think only about their own rights, and not those of everyone else. These non-experts have never read the Charter of Rights and Freedoms that they like to talk about, and they don’t understand the simple concept that my rights end where the rights of someone else begin. These people have no legal training, and their only knowledge of the law is whatever they read on the internet.
And finally – and I have left this for the last – I’m tired of the non-theologians who (mis)quote the Bible and see in the pandemic all kinds of apocalyptic issues that are not there. They talk about how the pandemic is a “dress rehearsal” for the world government of the Anti-Christ, and how the vaccines that have been developed contain some nefarious ingredient that will allow the government to track our every movement, or even worse that it is what the Bible calls “the mark of the beast”. We find these, and other notions expressed in videos of some Bible-waving or Bible-thumping TV preachers, and some people people post this stuff on social media. I’m tired of that kind of preaching, and I’m embarrassed when I hear it from preachers who should know better.
As a result of the pandemic, we have been exposed to more nonsense per square inch than I can tolerate. So how do we defend ourselves against such poppycock? For me there has been only one way that works. I have no energy to fight it so I have chosen flight. I distance myself from all propaganda that jeopardizes my mental health or my spiritual life, and from people who peddle it.
Now before you flood my email box with messages about freedom of speech, let me say that I am a huge believer of freedom of speech. Everyone is entitled to their own personal opinion about anything. In a free society, you also have the right to express that opinion freely. But I am not compelled to listen to it, or even expose myself to it. That includes newscasts as well. I hardly ever watch the TV news live. I record the daily newscasts from my favourite network(s). I then watch them at a time that is convenient to me, and I make good use of the fast forward function of my remote control to avoid repetitive things that I’ve heard enough of. That is my survival strategy against Covid fatigue.