Lori Falce: Let's get back to better than normal
We all can’t wait to get back to normal.
This coronavirus shutdown is getting to everyone. We all want to get out of our houses, go back to work and be able to shop again like it’s an activity, maybe even a hobby, instead of a Navy SEAL excursion. We need that routine back — when it’s safe, of course.
But is normal really what we need? Do we want to come out of the pandemic exactly the way we came in?
I don’t.
In the past weeks, I’ve come to appreciate both community and solitude. I want to get back to my office and the chattery buzz of conversation from the newsroom — and my tendency to eavesdrop and poke my head out with suggestions or just snarky comments. I miss laughing with the other moms at Scout meetings.
And I would commit crime for 10 minutes alone.
I have learned that my son is more social than I thought and has more friends than he believed. Ask him, and he will tell you he’s a gamer who doesn’t like school, but give him weeks to play endless video games and you find the kid who misses social studies and science class.
But I’ve learned more than that. I’ve learned about a grocery store cashier who wears funny headbands to brighten the day. That there are people hungry enough to wait in miles of lines for food assistance. That teachers miss their students like they would their own kids.
We all have those little lessons. The people we miss. The things we now know. The truth about what we will treasure when we go back to “normal.”
Dr. Anthony Fauci of the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Disease wants us to learn that we shouldn’t shake hands. That’s definitely one lesson, and it would certainly cut down on germs spread by touch.
The more important lessons aren’t what we shouldn’t touch, but what we should. We need each other more than we ever thought we did. We need conversation and sharing and kindness — all of which are too scarce in a world rife with shouting and naysaying and insistence.
When lockdowns are lifted and doors open up again, maybe those lessons can teach us to reach for something better than normal.
Lori Falce is the Tribune-Review community engagement editor and an opinion columnist. For more than 30 years, she has covered Pennsylvania politics, Penn State, crime and communities. She joined the Trib in 2018. She can be reached at lfalce@triblive.com.
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