The COVID emergency has been lifted, and it's a good time to think about the pandemic and learn from it. What happened? Why did it happen? What did we do? What did we learn? How will we deal with a situation like this if it happens again.
When I visited a friend in the hospital yesterday, I noticed the receptionist without a mask on. It was so nice to see her smiling face and to realize that the COVID emergency procedures have been lifted. A lot has happened since the onset of the pandemic, and in many ways, we are waking up to the many changes that occurred throughout that time. Note I did wear a mask because I know hospitals are full of sick people and I like the way masks protect me from lots of illnesses.
The greatest positive of the entire pandemic was learning to find the silver linings in the struggle. People everywhere sought ways to deal with the pandemic positively, and because of this many relationships grew deeper and people took on new, healthy habits such as getting outdoors more. The pandemic made many of us think about what really mattered too and led us to change aspects of life that were not doing us any good. As a people, we made the kinds of changes necessary to survive the pandemic, and that demonstrates we can come together and survive hard times which will give us strength when hard times arise again.
Of course there were a fair number of errors that occurred as we dealt with the pandemic. I'm sure experts like Dr. Fauci will fully analyze those errors with factual medical, legal, and leadership perspectives. It's good for professionals in every field to look at what happened and what they'd do if that happens again. As for education, I wish they made one grade year into two. For example if you were a first grader during COVID full-school-year-one, then you would also be a first grader during COVID full-school-year two. By slowing down the grade progression, teachers and parents would have had more time to deal with all the COVID-related issues that slowed down the traditional curriculum and created new and different needs that required time and attention including the needs related to sick and dying relatives, children contracting the illness, frequent closures, online learning, and more.
As we think about the goods and bads of the COVID pandemic, it's important to recognize the good leaders in every field that made courageous, positive decisions that saved lives and promoted good living.
We lived through a hard time, a time that caused all of us to make some tough decisions and live differently than we had been living. Some still suffer from the ramifications of COVID, and the illness continues. There's still work to do related to the pandemic, and one aspect of that work is for all of us to reflect on how the pandemic changed our lives in ways positive and not-so-positive so that next time we face a similar challenges, we'll be ready. Onward.