I Can Tell the Pandemic Is Ending Because People Are Being Assholes Again
Good news/bad news
Today, three — yes, THREE — different drivers flipped me off because I had interfered with their right to 1)drive very fast on the wrong side of the road or 2)park their car in the active lane at a car wash or 3)fail to yield at an exit-only lane. I was thrilled. Finally, the pandemic is ending! Finally, the goodwill brought about by tragedy and disaster has worn off!
I’m not kidding. The warmest, most genuinely communal feelings I’ve ever been part of have all come amid disaster. Example #1: The Northridge Earthquake in Los Angeles, which I experienced because I happened to be in LA on a story assignment. The kindness, the outreach, the sense of community in the aftermath of the earthquake was extraordinary. In my case, someone I barely knew tracked me down at my hotel and invited me to stay at her house because she thought that staying alone in a hotel room on a high floor would be a drag (there were massive aftershocks for days). On the streets, people slowed down as they passed and smiled at each other. Strangers traded stories about whether or not their houses had been damaged and offered consolation. It was Los Angeles at its very best, humanity at its very best, everyone viewing themselves as part of a continuous fabric, all vulnerable to the same scary…
