Things will never be the same by Dave Corbitt

Dave and I worked together in the 1970s at a post-production house in New York. When I got into technical difficulties (there are always technical difficulties), I’d call Maintenance for help. There were engineers who made it clear that they thought the editors were slightly dim-witted. Dave was not one of those. He was always kind, smart, helpful and friendly. I was so happy when we reconnected on Facebook.

Things will never be the same
by Dave Corbitt, Whiting, NJ

Humans need to feel there is some kind of safety and stability in their lives. Our Constitution was our foundation document, promising to guarantee rule by law and a predictable framework for freedom, justice, fairness, and security from unreasonable claims by others on how we live our lives. But it never guaranteed we’d be safe from poor leadership or personal and planetary damage by those greedy enough to extract all they can without any concern about the destruction left behind. Our population has exploded since the beginning of the 20^th century. People have expanded into territories previously uninhabited and strange diseases native to wild animal populations have mutated and spread to humans in alarmingly more frequent numbers. SARS, MERS, and, of course, the deadly Covid-19.

It makes me so sad to see all of us on this planet endangered by nature’s revenge on this motley crew of primates. We evolved from creatures that lived socially, spent hours sitting together and grooming each other. We’re programmed to have a need for close contact with others, to interact and learn from each other, to love and hold each other, to compete for partners and at all of life’s big and little tasks.

But Covid-19 has drastically changed so much of this. For me, about three years ago, at age 70, I felt it was time to work on getting fit. I had retired a few years before and was feeling out of shape but enjoying my life in an adult community, volunteering as President of my HOA and finding local choral groups to join. My partner was very supportive and we had a great time sharing our lives together.

I joined a local gym. There was a feeling of camaraderie there and one particular guy, who was extremely outgoing and in great shape, took me under his wing. He showed me the ropes, taught me safety rules, shared his extensive knowledge of physiology and correct form. I loved it, saw noticeable changes in my body— lost 50 pounds of fat, gained almost two inches around my upper arms, increased my bench press from 120 to 260!—and woke up to attitude changes and motivations inside that I hadn’t felt in decades.

I was inspired to take a Fitness Trainer course. This led to certification and a part-time job as a trainer. Wow! So divorced from my pre-retirement career of Project Manager in broadcast facilities.

I felt upbeat, energetic, strong, and self-confident, and had so much fun working with people from all walks of life, all ages, and all levels of personal fitness.

Than along comes Covid-19. Lock down. Quarantine. We’ve all experienced this new world order. People are dying in large numbers, staples are in short supply, people don’t touch or even come close to one another for fear of becoming infected and possibly dying. Cooped in the house, I have become fearful, lost that feeling of self-confidence, penned in, unable to enjoy walks on the boardwalk at sunrise, browsing for clothes and more at any stores, sharing drinks and dinner with friends, working out at the gym. The last one I miss terribly. I understand the need to think big and altruistically to save lives, so l keep the course of staying home.

I watch the news and get depressed that our nation is being led by fools who have deconstructed so many parts of the structure necessary to keep us safe, just so a few greedy wealthy can extract more money out of the system with no concern for those without the resources to keep their lives together. I feel anger and hopelessness over the situation and think terrible thoughts of revenge on those who allowed all this to happen and did not heed the good advice of scientists and other experts who warned us this was coming and to prepare.

We all hope this will end soon and we can go back to how things were before. But like the huge events of the last 100 years that caused upheavals in society, the pandemic crisis is doing such right now. Things will never be the same. There will be changes in mores, culture, attitudes, governing principles, and how we treat the planet we live on, if wiser minds can take control and stop the insanity of those who would destroy our world for personal gain at everyone else’s expense.

I just hope I can regain some of my personal positive feelings of self-confidence once the virus has been defeated through good science and good policies.

My highest wishes are for a rebirth of the best in humanity and an end to the incompetence of those who have made this pandemic so much worse than it should have been if handled intelligently.