A 'Lifestyle Editor' Looks Back Fondly at Covid Lockdowns and is 'a Little Bit Excited About' Maybe Doing it Again. So Here are Some of Stupidest, Most Anti-Science Policies We Endured.
Thanksgiving, as much as any other holiday, is about history. It's about looking at the present through the past. From the First Thanksgiving, where the Pilgrims feasted with the Wampanoags in appreciation for the way they saved them from starvation, to Abe Lincoln declaring it a federal holiday during the Civil War, to your own childhood memories, to the Buttfumble in 2012. It's meant to be a day for gratitude, not only for the blessings we enjoy, but also recognition of where we came from.
And that extends all the way up to recent history. It's important this year to remember what Thanksgiving was like two years ago, and to a lesser extent, last year. When "Two weeks to flatten the curve" was in its eighth big month, with no end in sight. Officials were telling the public not to travel. Not to get together with family members. Not see anyone from outside your own household. To mask up and even double mask. While leaders from both political parties were being caught traveling, getting together with family members, seeing people from outside their own households, without a mask anywhere to be seen. With impunity.
We were in a dystopian hell from which there seemed to be no escape. All we could do was dream of a future Thanksgiving in which we could go back to our normal traditions of morning drinking at the high school football game, feasting on comfort foods with loved ones, and passing out in stretch waist-band pants in front of the late game. Enjoying the very freedom those first Pilgrims left England to pursue. This above all else is what I'm going to be thankful for as I bow my head over a 3,000 calorie plate tomorrow.
Though not everyone agrees. Meet the lifestyle editor of Kidspot in Sydney, Australia, Leah Goulis:
Source - Before I get trolled, let me just start off by saying that by NO MEANS do I wish another lockdown or deadly COVID wave upon anyone. …
It has been a terrible time.
But as more and more talk about a fourth wave keeps creeping into our daily conversations and news updates, I can’t help but be a little bit excited about the idea of being “locked down” again. As horrible and confusing as it was when COVID hit our communities hard, there were plenty of lovely moments during lockdown that we should look back on fondly. And personally, if they happened to me again, I wouldn’t be that mad about it.
Lockdown provided some really great opportunities to connect and slow down. It was the ultimate reminder to not sweat the small stuff and just be present. Here’s what I wouldn’t mind revisiting because it was truly awesome…
Essential workers aside, when organisations announced their plans to return to the office, you could hear the collective sigh from miles away. Working from home had great benefits. Firstly, you could work from anywhere [which] meant some extra sleep-in time because you didn’t have to get ready to go anywhere. It was literally bed to desk or couch in seconds. What wasn’t to love about that? …
[W]e were walking an average of at least 6km a day. It meant we all got some fresh air in our lungs and became fitter than ever. …
[I]t meant that we were able to tackle projects such as the veggie patch. And everyone got involved because it meant we had something to do!
Far be it for me to criticize Leah Goulis and be accused of trolling. I'm sure her life of avoiding all human contact outside of her husband and kids was a paradise. A veggie patch of earthly delights.
You know who it was no bargain for though? Those "essential workers" she and the rest of her very expendable ilk in Zoomer Culture sent to work while they slept in and took their 6K doggie walks every day. The ones who had to roll up for their 40-plus hour weeks to deliver their meals, pump their gas, carry their curbside groceries to the back hatch of their SUVs, keep their utilities working, and answer their 911 calls. Those guys who work the construction sites my brother is project supervisor on didn't spend five minutes worrying about about the virus or who was masking up. They just showed up and earned their living, as always. And of course, I'm only referring to the "essential" ones who didn't lose their jobs because their employers were put out of business by the shutdowns. They got the opportunity to "slow down" and "be present" as well. It's just hard not to "sweat the small stuff" when the big stuff involves having no income. For them, it wasn't "awesome."
Still, those workers can all take comfort in knowing some vapid, self-possessed, pretentious wine moms got a break and could focus on their garden and enjoying "plenty of lovely moments" they can "look back on fondly." As their wooden signs from Crate & Barrel remind us, it's all about making memories.
With that, here are the memories we all need to keep in mind. Not just this Thanksgiving, but for all of us. At the exact moment this dreck was being published, rapper Zuby started my favorite Twitter thread of recent memory. If not of all time. With this simple question:
Which inspired an absolutely brilliant string of receipts longer than all the CVS registers in the world could produce. Ones we all need to preserve for eternity. Some of my personal favorites, beginning with the paddleboarder I mention all the time, but everyone else I talk to seems to have forgotten all about:
And continuing, with an A+ use of soundtrack:
And here's my own contribution:
While I forgot about this little bit of ingenuity:
It goes on and on like this. I've barely scratched the surface of the tip of the iceberg on this thread. Do yourself a favor and find some time over the long weekend to scroll through it and keep it at top of mind as you enjoy the life that has finally come back to us all. Even though some among us are disappointed and long for the days when you couldn't go to a beach, take your kid to a playground or buy seeds for your veggie patch without being considered a superspreader and criminally charged.
So be grateful. I know I am. Happy Thanksgiving.