WE SHOULD PROBABLY TALK ABOUT IT

or That Thing That Some People Seem To Forget Happened

You remember it, right?

I didn’t just imagine it?
Gosh, it felt real but no one seems to want to admit it happened.

Maybe it didn’t happen.

No, no… it did.
And the longer we ignore it the bigger a problem it’s going to become.

On March 11th, 2020 our lives changed.
A global pandemic was declared.

And before you get all defensive, I’m not about to launch into a “wear masks/get vaccinated” tirade.
We all know how to deal with it now. If you don’t, I can’t help you.

I’m most concerned about how we, as in the global ‘we’, went through a traumatic event of historic proportions that lasted years and we all seem to ignore that it even happened.

I don’t mean we need to dwell on it, but I do mean that we should stop pretending like it wasn’t a big deal.
It was kind of a big deal.

I remember during the pandemic reading how economists were trying to make sense of what was happening but in the terms of a regular life.
”Demand outweighs Supply. How is that possible??”
It was laughable.

I read now about how some politicians want you to think that government spending was out of control during the pandemic… ignoring the countless lives, homes, and families that were saved.
Plus anyone who pipes up after the fact with a solution born in hindsight needs to sit down and shut up.
Like perusing the answers from last week’s crossword and saying aloud “it’s so easy.”

I’ve heard, and seen, countless empty offices and the laments of businesses trying to woo back workers while accusing those workers of going soft for wanting to work from home just because they lived through a time when going to the office might kill them and their family. Wusses, right?

I see online how people of all ages, but mainly teens and young adults, are slightly to severely broken.
They’ve gone through trauma and the world, in a futile attempt to shake off the ick of a global brush with death, has told them to ignore that it happened.

This is a problem.
This is a problem that is exacerbating other problems.
This is a problem that will create more problems.
We need to deal with it.

How do we deal with it?
I’m no mental health expert but I think it starts with not ignoring an historic global trauma.

It happened.

Let’s cut each other some slack.
Let’s be kind.
Let’s not pretend like it was and is business as usual.
That attitude was needed to survive during… but it won’t help us heal after.

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(Pictured: Author ponders the impact of global traumatic event while creating puppet using his knee and glasses. Mr Noseyknee appreciate the view of Perth)