Our lives are becoming more virtual every day. Seems as if the combination of the pandemic and the necessity to persevere with everything we desire has created a newfound dependence on our digital connections. We buy clothing, linen, food, and now most of our holiday gifts online. School is no longer about buildings and putting our seats together to work cooperatively.
We already know that things will not be the same if/when we experience some sort of normalcy, but now it seems as if some of those changes are coming into sharp focus exponentially. Who will we be when our relationships with others outside our inner family circles tail off. When the way we interact with others becomes limited? Our experiences are transforming before our eyes.
What will be lost and gained without the in-person school? Even now, as we watch live telecast sports events we see the haunting transformations. Most notably are the empty arenas with cardboard cut-out figures populating the stands. With shades of "Where's Waldo?" they ring silent as the voiceless audience who paid nothing for admittance is incapable of making a sound. But sound accompanies most every play. The canned crowd noise rises and falls with the crack of a bat, or when a halfback busts through the line. An ace in a tennis match evokes wild applause from yesteryear. But those artificial...I mean virtual sounds ring out on TV, radio, and internet speakers only.
It's been reported that the great arenas are eerily quiet on the field of play. Moreover, the refs and umpires can hear almost everything the players say. Not good sometimes. Not good most times, I suspect.
With gyms closed it's fair to say that our physical health might suffer even more effects. Dental and doctor visits have suffered. Both, another opportunity to lose tough with real people.
But...maybe the reverse will happen. With the upcoming vaccinations, perhaps we actually will return to the way things were at the outset of 2020. Perhaps we will realize how good we had it and commit to never losing the things we took for granted. These small joys have the potential to impact lives. Lives that long for the interactions with others that help us define and understand who we are and are becoming.
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