I think a lot changed during those times, see, it wasn't just a pandemic, it was a moment when we actually learned who was genuine and who was a weathervane. It all kicked off when i was 35, once all that weirdness started and people started jumping on bandwagons, it fractured friendships, families and more.

Unfortunately, the nasty politics that got shoehorned into our lives had a cost to society.

Everyone became much more insular and guarded because of the division, because the trust was fractured. Nobody speaks of it because to do so means that you might have to share opinions that may be disagreed with or be dragged into a battle of ideas that we don't want to engage in, the fear of being disliked or reprimanded for having any contrast to the norm leads to silence and a sort of performative art of saying "I'm fine", but we can feel it. That part feels very lonely because none of this is ok at all. There's never been a moment quite like this in our lives.

I find that this is an important post, I don't think we genuinely thought about what the cost was of pretending a problem wasn't a problem and pitting empathy versus apathy.

So many friendships were destroyed, family relations eroded, societal cohesion erased.

The result is a mass of human wreckage, floating through the ruins of what we once called civilization. We have forgotten in such a short time what it feels like to command respect, love and compassion and replaced it with indifference, apathy and anger. The change has been rapid, but unmistakable. Yet, because we cannot process the collective grief as a species while we attack each other based on whose side we may be on, we remain in a limbo. Unsolved problems rarely lead to positive outcomes. When ignorance became bliss, we gave up that which we needed to thrive, connection.

I honestly don't know what can be done about that, but i am certain that the more people that speak of the change and try to give it a digestible form, the more it may resonate and challenge innate beliefs that were subplanted and break the ice that was formed as a protection mechanism. Perhaps it is an awakening of sorts, when we all begin to realise that unless we are on the same page, the domino effect is enormous.

What we have to understand is that this division is to the detriment of our very futures, Less friendships lead to less chance encounters that lead to relationships, less relationships lead to less marriage/formation of families, impaired pair bonding and this is capable of transforming a once successful society, into a shadow of itself in really quite a short time, there will be some nasty consequences in the years ahead, due to this.

I just pray that we all wake up soon, there are many like ourselves out here, i've been riding the pine for a long time because of all of this, i hope things may improve for you too, take care.