Let me go ahead and say, when it comes to COVID, I’m sick of it- no pun intended.
Since January of 2020, our lives have revolved around this virus that took over everything from our news media to what we could buy in the grocery store. It has taken our children out of school and taken grandparents far too soon.
This virus has dictated how we spend our holidays and even how we drop our pets off at the vet. It’s told us to fear our neighbor’s coughs. It’s affected our stocks, our medications, our mental health, our social behavior and our general way of living life.
This virus has caused a huge uptick in the amount of alcohol and drug abuse simply because people are isolated. It’s taken us away from our churches and the fellowship of our congregations.
It’s made us skeptical and cynical and allowed us to become a society of people who don’t want to work.
When COVID-19 first hit the air waves, it took us by surprise. We didn’t know what to do or how to behave with the potential of a “novel virus” affecting and killing people around the world.
But.
We’ve learned some things since then. We went through the learning curve of figuring out social distancing and how close was too close. We’ve learned we can be outside together. We’ve learned about washing hands and the greatest threat being from breathing in the virus.
We’ve learned to not drink diluted bleach. Heck, we even had to learn masks really don’t restrict oxygen levels despite the claims of a certain member of Congress from Ohio.
We’ve had a hard couple of years. Years filled with bouts of hope and turns of dread as numbers once again started to rise.
Now, we are at the dawn of a new year. Omicron has reared its ugly head and has spread around the world, our country and our state at record speeds.
National television broadcast news outlets are once again competing to see which station can drive home fear for this new variant at a rate faster than Omicron can spread.
Well, folks, I’m tired of it.
See, I’m one of those lucky people who has been completely vaccinated and I had the dang virus not once, but twice. My personal view toward Omicron is probably flippant, but I say “Bring it on, hit me with your best shot.”
What we know about Omicron is, yes, it spreads more effectively and is more contagious, but it is a sad little brother to the inital beast that swept the world. The symptoms for all intents and purposes are those of a common cold.
It’s time to stop fearing this virus. It’s time to stop being irrational and letting sensationalism drive us. It’s time to start using all we have learned in the past two years and put it to good use.
It is time to start living our lives once again because we are only alloted a little time here on this blue and green planet.
It’s time to have common sense about COVID.
