Over the past couple of weeks, as we get closer to Halloween, my wife and I have been talking about what we plan to do on that day. Typically, our discussions talk about where we plan to walk around in, what costumes to wear, etc.
PC: Image by Will Chen is licensed under CC BY-NC-SA 2.0
Since this year has been one where the number of cancelations of events has been many and widespread, along with the “doomsday” tone form our local government leaders, I have been teasing my wife, saying “Didn’t you hear, Halloween was canceled by our politicians this year”.
Let’s just say here that the joke I make does not go down well with my wife.
And until I started looking into the matter – what is our leaders saying about the status of the holiday season – I thought anyone saying the holiday season was canceled was more a joke (or political posturing).
But it turns out our government and health leaders in this nation are seriously discussing this possibility – that the holiday season for many may not be more than just another day.
Dr. Anthony Fauci, in an interview on CBS on Wednesday, the 14th, seriously suggested that any plans anyone has to get together for the Thanksgiving holiday should be canceled. He specifically said, “Namely, you may have to bite the bullet and sacrifice that social gathering unless you’re pretty certain that the people that you’re dealing with are not infected.”
The current news out there regarding Christmas does not sound as dire, yet. Perhaps everyone wants to see how people handle Halloween first before making any predictions on what we should expect to experience.
But needless to say, the headlines predicting a pretty sad sounding holiday season are starting to come out. And this does not bode well for our country’s mental health.
To this writer, it has been a worry since the beginning of the pandemic that health and government officials issuing declarations, ultimatums, and predictions throughout this saga have been stating these things without one ounce of understanding of human behavior.
Human behavior suggests that despite the risks that the health professionals say about the virus, that the desire to “normalcy”, meaning getting together with friends and family and celebrating an event, trumps the warnings.
PC: “Half Human, Half Vulcan: Spock from Star Trek, the Original TV series” by feastoffun.com is licensed under CC BY-NC-SA 2.0
Now, if we were all to take a pill and convert from having “illogic and foolish emotions” to that of a Vulcan-esqe level of mental fortitude, one can suppose that all dictums related to the virus would be followed to-the-letter.
But unfortunately, we don’t have that pill, or the ability to go through a ceremony like the Kolinahr. Instead, the world that we still live in still has many people who are not as mentally strong. And in many ways, they are being ignored.
It might be best, as a suggestion, to try and figure out how to both address the needs of people during this holiday time coming up with the call to safety. Because right now with headlines that read “Cancel Thanksgiving? Fauci warns Americans may need to ‘bite the bullet’”. It will be a trigger to many, and not helpful in all of us getting through this time.