The Masked Librarian
You all know that there is the word generic in my username, and there is a reason for that. I tend to keep things pretty light in scope around here. Honestly, life is a bit more approachable if you stay in the optimistic side of the pool, and I spend a lot of my life appealing to the logic or emotional aspects of the people I am around in order to cultivate an atmosphere of geniality and peace.
That said, I must admit, that here lately I am finding myself rather annoyed.
Our species has been through a lot over the millennia. We have crossed oceans and survived wars with each other. The world of microbiology has always been in a bit of a cage match with our immune system, so as annoyed as I was that we had a new variant of corona to deal with, I knew that we just had to soldier on and blast our way through it by doing what we do best, being human.
I had no problem staying home for a few weeks to give the hospitals a chance to get prepared and flatten the curve nor do I have a problem packaging people's holds at the library and setting them outside on a cart for them to pick up without any close human contact. I, like many of you I am sure, have no problem giving up comfort and convenience for the safety of others.
You know what I do have a problem with? The invasive mindset of many of my peers in charge of various government entities. All humans are a bit fragile, yet we are also strong, and as a fully (okay that may be a stretch) functional adult member of my species, I resent the hell out of all this nanny-like overreaching that we are facing.
As a kid I sat on my bedroom floor and poured over books like The Hotzone and a 1300 page thesis on the Ebola virus. My career goal was to be a virologist for USAMRIID. I spent many an hour in virus-land. They are crafty little chains of proteins, and as this Covid kerfluffle goes on, it has become apparent to me that this particular virus is a lot more virulent in ways more than physiological.
Just in case I am being a touch vague, for clarity purposes, most edicts coming down the pipe from so-called authorities right now feel like a memo screeching, We know you are an adult, now listen to us tell you every move to make.
No.
There have been rants a plenty about the all out oxymoronic dictates and selective enforcement of all manner of policy not rooted in science but rather totalitarianism. I will not rehash them here, but when I go to work and listen to how one of our local libraries had protesters on their front stoop when they opened with Contactless Curbside Service, I feel like I have finally reached the apex of my annoyance. Only pampered and coddled humans would protest a perceived lack of social distancing by not social distancing.
Enough with this culture of fear, I'm embracing a culture of capability. Life is messy, we all are going to die at some point. We have big old brains that we can use to mitigate some of the risk of living but we cannot eliminate it. And the biggest thing of all is, I am an adult, blessed to live in a country founded on individual principals where I can choose to work with my fellow humans for their overall goodwill and health rather than be coerced into state enforced drudgery. I am going to strive against any creature who wants to do away with that in the name of safety.There's always going to be a Covid out there, lurking, we can't let it stop us from being, doing, and creating.
And on that note I am going to leave it, I've got living to do.
And as most of the time, all of the images in this post were taken on the author's rather put out at the insanity mucking about iPhone.