This morning a friend from South America shared a video on Facebook of doctors and nurses in an Israeli hospital, sporting head to toe protective gear, dancing to the rhythm of Israeli music. The caption? "Israeli medical staff celebrates Covid-19 farewell". It made me so mad.
The video was probably made as part of our recent independence day celebration and not as a celebration of the end of the pandemic. Doctors and nurses are NOT celebrating the end of Corona, because even though Israel has weathered the corona virus storm better than most countries, the virus is far from gone. The video made mad because this type of false information, of false sense of security and hope, makes people take their guard down and act selfishly and recklessly, leading to an inevitable second wave of the virus. But mostly, it made me mad because today I sent my daughter to school for the first time in almost two months wearing a mask. Israel opened schools partially, with only 1st through 3rd graders attending in groups of up to 15 kids. There were strict instructions for drop off and pick up, we had to sign an affidavit of health, she had to bring alcohol-gel and disinfectant wipes. I spent all night debating whether I should send her; balancing thoughts of fear thinking the government was opening schools not because it was safe but because the economy needed to be restarted, with thoughts about it being time, about how we can't keep everything closed for a year or two (that's how long they are predicting this whole thing will last). So you see, we are not celebrating the end of any pandemic in Israel and there is nothing "normal" about what we have started to go back to. There is nothing normal about sending your kid to school wearing a mask, nervous of whether you made the right choice.
And then there's the issue of "normal", of "going back to normal". Do we really want to go back? Back to running like a chicken with its head cut off, rushing to drop them off at school so you can get to the office, and back so you can pick them up in time and take them to gymnastics or tennis or whatever extracurriculars they have to go to? Back to pushing each other in supermarket lines? I for one am not ready. I do want to go to the beach or the pool, I want to hug my friends, I want to travel for work and on holiday, I want this damn virus to be gone, but go back? Not so much. I've enjoyed the slower pace of my day, I've enjoyed baking with my kids, and having a much more manageable work/life balance.
So as we continue to navigate this ordeal and the government slowly eases restrictions, I can't help but think: "What do I want the rest of my life to look like and how do I design my new normal?"
