Yesterday was Valentines’ Day; the day of love, love, love. Is it just me or does that seem a bit ironic right now? Don’t get me wrong, I’m not one of those people who believes in big romantic gestures on the designated annual “Hallmark Holiday” that the flower, jewelry and chocolate shops count on to pay their rents in an otherwise retail-challenged season. Quite the contrary, actually. I’m not suddenly jaded by a bad break-up nor am I a non-believer in love and all of its awesome powers. Not that it matters much but I believe that love can be big events or tiny gestures, it can be an act of romance, care, concern or just a nudge to someone that says that you’re thinking about them… but I tell ya, I sure don’t see a lot of evidence that there’s much of that going on out there these days.
Once upon a time someone said, “Love thy neighbor” and it held for a long, long time. I remember growing up that my mom said it a lot to us, we heard it at school and everywhere, even on TV. Now that I think about it, I haven’t heard that phrase in a REALLY long time… maybe it’s just not a priority anymore. Two days ago, one of my actual neighbors was outside in our complex parking lot at the same time as me. In a very friendly manner he asked me what I thought about the trucker-convoy to which I responded that it’s too bad they muddied their message with support from neo-Nazis and criminals who were merely involved to create chaos. My neighbor went from Dr. Jekyll to Mr. Hyde in about half a second and started shouting at me right there in the parking lot – apparently, it turns out, he does not share my opinion. I put my hand up and told him that if he was going to shout at me for giving an opinion that he asked for I would just walk away. He brought it down a notch but before he had finished his paragraph, he was at assault tone again so I told him that I was leaving to go live my nice life and I left him there, probably frustrated that he wasn’t able to convert me, or at least finish his tantrum.
“Pandemic Burn-Out”. That’s what the so-called experts are calling it, giving it what sounds like a legit psych diagnosis. Everyone’s so tired of restrictions, inconveniences and pandemic-related complications and some are precariously teetering on their last fuse, nerve or second of sanity, just waiting for any reason to go off. I can’t count the number of times I have seen and/or experienced what I’m going to call “Random Acts of Shittiness” because that’s what they actually are. The first is to be pitied; the second, to be scorned, and there’s a BIG difference. Burn-outs are tired, even depressed, lethargic and unmotivated. RAS-folks are awake, alert, aggressive and looking for an opportunity to vent. It’s hard to even be kind to them after you experience their Shittiness first hand, but, for my part, I’m going to keep trying because if we don’t, we’re just going to self-destruct as a society.
I refuse to give up on the idea that things are going to be better soon. I hope my next post will be that of a “Random Act of LOVE or KINDNESS”, and that those will start to overtake the numbers on the other ones. I also hope that by next Valentines’ Day I will think that yes, we’re all doing much better now…. And that I can go out to the parking lot without peeking out the window to make sure the coast is clear first LOL!