I started writing this blog in April 2020 as a way to chronicle life during this special period. For a while my posts were more frequent; over time they have slowed. Maybe that’s because I’ve become less certain what to write; things change so quickly. It’s impossible to know if conditions are returning to normal, if they’re getting farther from normal, or what normal even means anymore.
My head spins; yours probably does too. We have been through nearly two years of a pandemic and all the accompanying stress. There was the final year of Trump, January 6th, police shootings and a vibrant Black Lives Matter movement and subsequent backlash. Climate change is proceeding at an alarming rate, evidenced by a spate of extreme weather events (when did the term “atmospheric river” enter our lexicon anyways?). A woman’s right to choose is in serious jeopardy. Pro-vaxxers and anti-vaxxers dig in and square off in increasingly hostile confrontations. Half of our country has outlawed pandemic-related mandates. Health care workers are crying for help and teachers are burning out from the stress of the youth mental health crisis and fears of COVID and school shootings.
And yet in some ways “normal” life proceeds. People get married, have babies, change jobs, and pursue their educational goals. We continue on with our daily routines – some altered more than others – and determine our level of risk comfortability associated with various activities. News photos of packed bars appear on the same sites as photos of overflowing emergency rooms. The contrast in realities is hard to reconcile.
A close friend recently told me that the key to a good yearly family newsletter is to talk about not just events, but feelings. I’m not sure if he would say the same about a blog post, but here goes. My feelings have been and continue to be a rollercoaster. I’m an activist, a news junkie, a mom, a business owner, and a participant. I care about people I know and people I don’t know. I take seriously my role in our democracy and probably have an over-inflated sense of my own power to effect change. I also believe in civility and listening to all viewpoints, and am deeply saddened about how polarized we have become and how viciously we attack those with whom we disagree. It bothers me that people will flirt with COVID and take unnecessary risks, expecting that our health care workers will fix us if we fall ill. My level of frustration with our current reality varies by the day.
There are things I can fix more easily than others. As much as I’d like to steer society in a different direction, my main sphere of influence is my business. I take seriously my job of safeguarding the special bubble in which 50 of us (between Detroit Street Filling Station and The Lunch Room Bakery & Cafe) spend our work lives. I do my best to keep everyone safe and healthy and employed, and to provide a safe experience for our customers. My goal is to not add even a single case to our overburdened health care system. I also want to note that our sphere of influence informally includes our neighbors, the staff Community High. We keep in touch and cheer them up from time to time. Give a big thanks to the healthcare workers and teachers in your life!
