​Playing Defense

Playing Defense

We have all dealt with the daily turmoil these last 2 years -- masks, vaccines, temperature checks, vaccine cards, and more. Throughout it all we have tied again and again to "get back to normal" but I think this has exposed one difficult truth to it all. While being stubborn can benefit us at many times in our lives, we need to recognize those times when it is better to retreat, regroup, and rethink our actions.

An example

I was talking with a friend who has a quarterly job consulting for a college. She detailed the process she had to go through in order to be "allowed" back on campus on a daily basis. It involved training videos, daily vaccine confirmation, and temperature check confirmed with a wristband along with all the typical COVID policies like social distancing.

Listening to her talk, I thought that -- if we are forcing ourselves to jump through extraordinary hoops just to work in person -- perhaps we shouldn't be trying to work in person at all. The arduous nature of the process clearly shows that, perhaps, we are being much too stubborn in our attempt to reach normalcy. We are banging our heads against a wall when it would be better to continue using alternative methods which are easier and keep everyone safer.

The word that always comes to my mind is arrogance. Humans have limitless arrogance when it comes to facing issues. We think we can overcome anything by force. We fool ourselves into thinking we have conquered COVID only to have it come roaring back. We are our own worst enemies when we remove processes and protections that help to mitigate the problem, choosing instead to fight it face to face like gunfighters at high noon.

The Defensive

Perhaps there are times when it is better to be on the defensive. Any scholar of war will tell you that defense is often easier than offense and each has its place in any battle. We have shown that we have the ability to play a decent defense when it comes to COVID. Perhaps we should do just that for a little while longer.

Of course, ego enters into it once again. When on the defense, we can feel weak, helpless, and -- heaven forbid -- unmanly. We want to feel we are fighting the good fight even though we have been doing just that for the last 2 years.

Protecting ourselves is a fight in itself. It takes sacrifice, loneliness, financial impacts, and more. Yet, it also keeps many of us safe and alive.

For me, these last 2 years have been focused on keeping as many people alive as possible. I am in the enviable position of being able to work from home, have items delivered, and basically continue my life as it was. I know, though, that others are not nearly as lucky. They have been forced into horrible situations of poverty or daily exposure to the virus. For them, I limit my deliveries and my in-person interactions as much as possible. I wear my mask even when it isn't required to protect both them and myself. These are things we all can and should be doing.

Instead, we are forcing children back into crowded schools, workers back into crowded offices -- both hotbeds of infection, even before COVID. We fight to remove important restrictions on public gatherings, masks, vaccines, and more. Why? We know these controls help. Are we simply ignoring the dangers just so we can feel more normal? This is foolishness. Better under restrictions and alive than "free" and dead.

A War of Attrition

Our battle with COVID is a war of attrition. It will eventually burn itself out if we stay on the defensive and take all the precautions to prevent it spread and its horrible health complications. We need do nothing more than wait it out -- if we can understand and avoid our arrogance. Arrogance causes us to stage suicide charges across the fields of normalcy in an attempt to pretend that life has changed in fundamental ways. Have we learned nothing from our previous fights against disease and traditional wars?

Life WILL return to some form of normal if we protect ourselves so we are around to enjoy it. Exposing yourself to COVID needlessly is a fool's game.

Play the long, defensive, game so you are here to enjoy the benefits later.