We are longer than a year past the end of COVID.
Make no mistake, COVID rocked our world.
COVID changed our world.
The United States is a far different place today than when the COVID pandemic shut down our world and sent us inside away from each other.
The colossal impact of shutting down our society in 2020 has not entirely been replaced by a return to normalcy.
Our city’s downtown areas remain largely empty by comparison to the way they were before the pandemic, a dramatic change for which there seems to be no simple antidote.
The unrestrained nature of life seems to have coalesced into something far different than nearly all of us experienced before the pandemic.
We no longer rush to be among thousands of people in crowded downtowns or stadiums or concert venues.
Yes, enthusiasm has come back but we remain largely impacted by the negative experience the COVID pandemic heaped upon us.
The shutdown of our society will be looked back upon as one of the incredible moments in our modern history.
We literally and physically shut our society down to save ourselves from millions and millions of potential deaths.
History will likely note that we overdid the worldwide shutdown of our societies and the inoculations that we imposed on millions.
We will be left to wonder and to debate whether or not it was all worth it.
Those who died during the pandemic will not have the advantage of having those discussions.
If only man was God and we could bring those people back.