Anxiety, Paranoia and Some Elation

“It’s better to be safe than sorry….”

You don’t need me to tell you the past year has been a long, strange trip, one filled with anxiety and paranoia for many of us. Staying home, mask, and social distancing became the new norm. Some people fought it or denied it. For some unexplained reason, others made it or saw it as political. That last one I never understood. Now that the lifesaving vaccine has arrived and the majority of eligible adults have opted to get the shot (or shots), life has begun to return at least partially to a new old normal. Though many restrictions are lifting, some rules remain in place.

So where does that leave us?

I can only speak for myself. While they have relaxed mask-wearing in most places, I still wear a mask when entering a store or any indoor space. My only exception is I go to someone’s house and I know everyone has been vaccinated. That situation is not often. The other day, my wife and I went shopping at a local supermarket. The customers were a mix of old and young and mask wearers and non-mask wearing wonders. I called them that not to be mean, but because that what I do now while in any store… I wonder. I wonder who has been vaccinated and who has not. That lack of knowledge makes me paranoid. Ridding myself of this apprehension is not easy. It has become ingrained in my psyche. “Paranoia runs deep…” as the Buffalo Springfield once sang.

I am obviously elated that we have a vaccine now and certainly feel more relieved and safer. Still, it feels disconcerting not to be wearing a mask in an indoor area.

Now I’m not saying we should all be wearing some kind of I.D. but don’t tell me I should not be wearing a mask if I feel safer doing so. Like so many have protested during the pandemic that they do not have to wear a mask. They are Americans and it’s their right not to wear one. Well, the same goes on the opposite side. I’ll wear a mask if I want to. As an American, I have that right.

Truthfully, none of this is about your rights as an American. It never has been. We’ve been going through a health emergency with a deadly virus. The virus didn’t care whether you a Democrat or Republican. I care about my health and I care about yours. And so, yes, I get anxious and sometimes paranoid, but now I am also elated we are making progress.