Not learning lessons
January 28th, 2023
What can I say about seeing it all over the place with all different groups of people at all times recently? I mean, I can say a lot but my voice will not be heard or heard and ignored. So why do I bother? I guess only to keep my conscience clear and to have the perverted pleasure to use — “I told you so” — in the future. At least then some gleeful satisfaction will be left to sustain me when we go through the repeat of a disaster.
I am talking about not learning lessons from events and situations from the past which is common and dangerous and it is bothering me a lot. Why are people so myopic? Why is the memory of something that happened recently already forgotten without any sliver of reflection on the part of people making decisions and those slavishly accepting them? Why are we doomed to repeat the same situations and problems all over again?
No more than a year ago we were finally released from the grip and (literal) muzzles of the pandemic. For several years people got sick, a lot of people died unnecessarily, and the economy was in trouble laying the foundation for the current disaster all over the world. We were asked to keep social distancing, keep masks on whenever necessary and keep basic anti-virus hygiene. And most of us did, bitching under our noses, we did our part for the greater good. And all that was forgotten as it never happened. At work, our siting plan was changed, because there was too much room unused in the office — so now we sit very close to each other. Working from home is being looked at as cheating and management is looking for ways not to allow it in the long run. That means those who are somewhat sick, instead of working from home and not spreading germs and viruses are now forced to come to the office and be in close contact with others. That just doesn't make any sense! And there is no chance of even trying to argue different points of view — we simply were told to accept it and shut up about it. So now we sit on top of each other surrounded by coughing and sneezing and whizzing and people complaining about having fever… And I am not making point of the potential return of the pandemic (although it still might happen) but a point about general care for the health of people. Now we are in the middle of flu season, wouldn't it make sense to apply some lessons we learned from the pandemic to the current situation? I guess it is too much to ask. So today I fell sick as a dog, and I am pretty sure I caught it from my coughing coworkers over the last few days. And on Monday, instead of working from home, I will have to go to the office to spread the virus over my unexpecting coworkers. The overwhelming idiocy of things and the people who surround me makes me very tired.
