It settled into the landscape-
like a toxic brume, infecting people
one-by-one, two-by-two
until we are engulfed
by staggering numbers of sick and
paralyzing numbers of death that
we’re ill-equipped to handle.
How ill-equipped?
People are arguing the “why’s”
of using masks;
they are questioning the government and how far they can infringe on their “freedom”
by telling them where they can go, and how close they can stand to people.
Meanwhile,
the virus doesn’t care about your political affiliation, all it cares about is how to infiltrate your body.
Are you going to allow it?
Over a little James Dean, Rebel Without a Cause, angst?
One day I woke up and our world was different.
A virus had dug in to almost every part of world-
some people were frightened, while others rebelled
and chose to live in a moment of time that no longer existed.
Because that world no longer existed.
Virus- had infiltrated our lives, and
at least for time as we knew it,
until a vaccine could be found,
this was life.
A summation of 2020:
Quarantine, working from home, homeschooling kids/parents who never home-schooled, no graduations for some Seniors, improvised graduations for others- on racetracks, zip-lines and jet ski’s;
Doctor’s visits became tele-vists, going out to eat became curb-side-pick-up or delivery;
bars were closed but delivering drinks became a thing, Las Vegas went dark, movie theaters shut down.
But plagues are known for peeling back and revealing humanity’s stark cruelties,
which is what it did-
showing us in living colour how not only a certain populace can be brutally attacked by a virus,
but how it has been brutally attacked by police, and institutional racism, for decades.
It is only now, with the power of our cell phone- and with the power of the media- that we have been able to shatter the consciousness of the people.
A year ago, was a different world.
It was uglier.
We’ve been awakened to the offensive nature that goes against our humanity,
but we must fight those that wish to keep it in place,
in order to change the system and bring our vision of humanity.
Peace and change don’t come for free or without some kind of cost.
But in the end, it could mean a world of inclusiveness;
where your colour or being LGBTQIA is seen as a thing of beauty and
you’re respected for what you bring to the proverbial table.
LMZ ©June 14, 2020
