A lot of public places I visited pre-Pandemic — theaters, restaurants, event centers, etc. — are opening up and I find myself with a small but worth-pondering quandary. Permit me to explain it in five points with a "but" in there…
- I want to see these places become profitable again and make up some of the income they lost while we were all isolating, sheltering and Zooming.
- And a feeling of normality — that we've weathered the worst of The Pandemic — would be nice. But…
- There are still folks out there who haven't been vaccinated and have either convinced themselves via-pseudoscience that they don't need it or that the whole coronavirus thing was always a sham…
- …and I did find during my 423 days (so far) of avoiding those public places that I don't need them as much as I once did. I've come to prefer letting Instacart go to Costco for me and doing certain kinds of meetings on Zoom.
- And finally, there's this: These places are reopening under strict protocols — masks worn here, no gathering in certain spots, limits on attendance and even how many can use the Men's Room at the same time even though there are urinals aplenty. And a lot of them just plain don't sound like a lot of fun for now. I shall expand upon this…
I just read the list of precautions being taken in a certain movie theater I sometimes patronize. I'd like the place to thrive and I certainly support all necessary safety precautions for both visitors and staff. I even support erring on the side of caution and adopting the more onerous ones, just in case. But after I read that list, I thought, "I don't want to go see a movie there." When I read almost any article about how Las Vegas has changed — what's still closed, all that has had to be altered — I feel I can wait for a lot more normality before going there.
I just read this article about how safe air travel now is and isn't. I would certainly fly if there was a real good reason but I don't think I'll be flying just because I feel like going somewhere for pleasure or enjoyment. Like I used to.
So there's that quandary: I want to support normality and businesses that have been hurting. I just don't really want to go to New York or dine in a restaurant right now. How am I going to handle this? Well, sometimes it helps me to write about something on my blog, then go back a week or so later and re-read what I wrote. It sometimes gives me a clearer view of the situation. I'll let you know if it does this time.