Our year of COVID

I won’t miss trying to figure out how to smile with my eyes. So many social situations are eased with that slight upturn of the mouth. Not sure if someone is saying hi to you? A quick smile. With a mask, we squint and look like a weirdo or a menace.

I won’t miss the fear. COVID killed people and, early on, we didn’t know exactly how and how bad it was going to be. We had severe supply chain shortages and overall anxiety. That was worrisome but also enlightening.

I won’t miss the COVID complaint calls. Turns out we are a society of snitches. We had countless calls early on from people complaining others weren’t wearing masks or doing yard work or construction or whatever. As a put-your-head down, live-and-let-live kind of guy, it got to be too much sometimes even though we strive here to present the most accurate information as possible on the evolving mandates.

I won’t miss the rising case counts and the death totals. I won’t miss the sadness and despair or hearing about goodbyes over FaceTime. I have been lucky to only know one person severely affected by the disease, and for that I consider myself very lucky. Others weren’t as lucky. I think of them.

In the past year since the lockdown order effective March 17, 2020, there were also some weird things. The time our health officer said, “You spit in our face,” directed to people who did not follow the lockdown orders. People in hazmat suits shopping in empty aisles. Runs on toilet paper, cleaning supplies, flour, eggs, meat, canned soup. Do we wear a mask? Not wear a mask? Not wear a cloth mask? Wear two masks? Stores suddenly closing two hours early. Those dystopian curfews. Unnecessary boarding up of shops. Eating sushi out of Styrofoam on the street. When Zoom dating became a thing. Cities closing parks but opening roads to recreation. Clanging pots at a certain time of the day. Huge masses of people heading to the beach. When parking enforcement officers in San Mateo just up and decided to enforce obscure traffic laws until everyone complained and the council told them to knock it off.

There were also good things. Everyone going for walks. People rediscovering nature. Free parking for a spell. Trampolines. Cooking. Sourdough starter. Board games. Community and government testing efforts. The desire to help small businesses. Racial equity awareness and action. The access and transparency of Zoom government meetings. Let’s hope that continues. Our community resolve and ability to do what is uncomfortable for the greater good.

We learned things as well. The saddest lesson is that the pandemic opened up even more for all to see the economic disparity not only in this county but this country. Depending on your job and resources, some people made out quite well. Others lost everything or nearly everything. This open wound of disparity is our greatest challenge. It will be with us for a while.

We learned we can do distance learning over Zoom but that there are severe challenges. However, it is a tool that can be used for certain circumstances. We learned the importance of youth sports and activity in any form, not necessarily just for competition.

We learned the value of our casual relationships. The banter with our favorite restaurant’s server, or the people at the gym. There is a loss in those acquaintances and we learned we should build them anew.

We learned we don’t have to commute incredible distances for work and that we can work from home, spending more time with our families and less time on the road.

We learned an appreciation for essential workers, our family and our friends. We learned the power of forward thinking and deliberative action.

We learned that this isn’t over, and there is more shared sacrifice ahead. And that the road ahead largely depends on the actions of all of us and, if we keep that in mind, perhaps better things are indeed possible.

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A small aside for the powers that be: Please find a way to get our bus drivers and train operators vaccinated.

Jon Mays is the editor in chief of the Daily Journal. He can be reached at jon@smdailyjournal.com. Follow Jon on Twitter @jonmays.