OPINION:
When the pandemic is over, some will say that we are headed towardsa “new normal.” I doubt that it will feel new or normal. New means that something hasn’t existed before, but heartache and mourning have always been with us. Normal means usual, typical or expected. Ask anyone who has lost a loved, their job or their home to COVID-19 whether life feels even slightly normal.
Instead of the “new normal,” I suggest that we use the term a “different reality.” It definitely feels different; painfully so. It will be the reality within which we will all have to exist. We have no choice.
I don’t believe the term “new normal” shows respect or empathy for those who have lost so much. Living in a different reality is where we will all be, but hopefully we will be strong enough to move through and beyond it.
DARRELL SY
Fairview Heights, Ill.
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