On March 8, 2021, President Biden announced his desire to allow people to gather in small groups by July 4, 2021, as long as people “continue wearing masks, social distancing, and practicing good hygiene.” On April 6, 2021, the LA Times reported Governor Newsome announced that on June 15, 2021, California will fully open its economy “if vaccine supply is sufficient for Californians 16 years and older who wish to be inoculated; and if hospitalization rates are stable and low.” Governor Newsome sees a bright light at the end of the tunnel; President Biden believes that “finding light in the darkness is a very American thing to do.” My concern is the light they both are referring to may be the Covid-19 train speeding toward us. We are now being told by the CDC that if you are fully inoculated against Covid-19 you don’t have to wear a mask if you are with others who are fully inoculated. Assuming all are right and the State, counties and the Country are moving in the right direction, does this mean we will soon be able to exit our bubbles and satisfy our insatiable yearning for a “Return to Normal?”
Not long ago I wrote a piece on the meaning of normal and this obsession with returning to “normal.” Despite the clamor for normalcy, what I reported is there really is no discrete definition for “normal.” What is meant by normal varies by group, person, beliefs, time, place, culture and situation. It is often defined by the way one acts and thinks relative to how the majority of other people acts or thinks. In other words, normal seen through the eye of the beholder is filtered through the lens of society. When it comes to evaluating our own behavior, we are greatly influenced by what society currently accepts as normal. What we perceived as normal pre-Covid-19 certainly changed for most of us because of Covid-19. This is not an anomaly because what we know about the perception of normal is that it changes along with changing societal values, standards, experiences and events.
For example, there was a time in California when, if you were caught in possession of marijuana, you were a felon. It is no longer a felony to be in possession of marijuana and, in fact, cannabis can now be sold for both medicinal and recreational use. Men wore suits to work and now dress casually. Women were barred from acts as simple as wearing pants or enjoying a vice like smoking in public. African Americans could not vote much less be elected President or Vice President of the United States and now we have both. Women were considered to be genetically ill suited for becoming physicians or pursuing STEM careers. Today women do both. In fact, women now constitute 50.5% of today’s medical students. Catholics could not eat meat on Fridays and now they can. You could not register to vote until you were 21 years old and now you can vote at 18. Interracial marriage was illegal in most southern states until 1967 when the U.S. Supreme Court in Loving v. Virginia deemed anti-miscegenation state laws unconstitutional in all U.S. states. Females were not allowed to fly fighters or be Navy seals; now they can. Prior to 2011, openly gay, lesbian and bisexual men and women could not serve in the military; now they can. Acceptance for LGBTQ in the military expanded with the lifting of the transgender ban in 2021.
Over the last 18 months most of us have been forced to change our old normal lifestyles to new normal lifestyles. For many of us, change has been dramatic. We have stepped out of our comfort zones and moved right into isolated environs. We now live in bubbles where we are required to wear masks and keep safe distances from family, friends and cohorts; work from home; online home school our children sans interaction with other children, classmates and extracurricular activities; limit outdoor activities and avoid recreational areas; and order take-out food and/or dine outdoors. Salons, barber shops, sporting events, bars, family gatherings, commencements, and even religious celebrations have been no-nos. The ill and dying were isolated and left to recover or die without love ones by their sides; some personal doctor’s visits are now via telemedicine. Personal, family and professional relationships were strained and life has become downright boring. One would think that as Oliver Wendell Holmes, Jr. said “A mind that is stretched by a new experience can never go back to its old dimensions.” In my opinion, what we have endured has certainly been a new and stressful experience, full of angst and uncertainty. So if Mr. Holmes is correct, shouldn’t we be anticipating entering the “Next Normal” and not longing to return to the “Old Normal”? The “Next Normal” should have a level playing field where everyone has an equal chance to fulfill their dreams. A place where people are judged by what they know and do, and not by their age, gender, color, sexual preference, political affiliation, religion, caste, culture or income level. Covid-19 should have taught us that we are all humans, interconnected in one global ecosystem. No matter what bubble we choose to live in, we should have learned to value life, family and community, and to be more humble, compassionate, empathetic, civil and respectful toward one another.
Do I really believe this is what the “Next Normal” will be? The answer is no. As a matter of fact, I believe despite all the suffering and sacrifice we as a nation have been through, the “Next Normal” will not be significantly different from the old normal. Yes, there will be some change; however, the future will include plenty of skepticism and distrust and continued anguish and sacrificing by the middle class, the poor and the marginalized. Why do I say this? Because I believe we all live in bubbles where we are caught up in our daily lives and focused on our own security and survival. We build rules, establish norms, formulate opinions, and agree on acceptable lifestyles that include living conditions, responsibilities, expectations, behaviors, habits and even prejudices. We tend to surround ourselves with people in bubbles who are like thinkers, in similar income brackets, with comparable educational backgrounds, and have comparable social and political views and family values. We get so comfortable in our bubbles and feel so safe that we believe everyone else is securely wrapped up in their bubbles. We blind ourselves to the disparate social, economic, educational and political realities that exist in the outside world. I know a person who was so comfortable in his bubble that he would consciously avoid driving through impoverished areas of the city out of fear that doing so would burst his bubble. Anthony Geathers in his New York Times article, What I learned inside the NBA Bubble, wrote that “bubble” is a funny metaphor to use for a safe zone “because bubbles are famously fragile. By definition, they are surrounded on all sides, vulnerable in every direction, wrapped in threat. A bubble is always right on the verge of being popped.”
Is this country any more in agreement about what needs to be done to improve the quality of life for all Americans? Has Covid-19 taught us to be more compassionate and empathetic? Does it really matter that someone’s bubble includes the elderly, unemployed, uneducated, homeless, addicted, incarcerated, mentally or terminally ill, disabled, and disenfranchised as long as they are not in your bubble? Is it okay if someone’s bubble is full of skepticism, resentment, hate, prejudice, loathsomeness, jealously, and/or envy as long as you or your friends and loved ones don’t feel this way? I caution against returning to normal if we are merely to get more of what we already had.
Thomas Hobbes in the 17th century wrote in the Leviathan about a social contract “in which individuals mutually unite into political societies, agreeing to abide by common rules and accept resultant duties to protect themselves and one another from whatever might come otherwise.“ He believed that because “humanity’s natural condition is a state of perpetual war, fear and amorality…only government can hold a society together.” As we evaluate how our nation is currently being governed, if Hobbes is correct, do you believe government can create a bubble strong, yet flexible enough, to ensure the safety and well-being of all Americans while holding the American society together? We have the opportunity to work together to create a “Next Normal” that is better, fairer and more secure for All Americans than the “Old Normal.”