We are now 6 months into the COVID-19 Pandemic and it feels like we are back in month 1. We still cannot get tests, we need to isolate, and we need to listen to the scientists. Unfortunately people are not listening or are forgetting or are defiant to the health professionals trying to save our lives. My experience is based on the US’s response and my hopes get dashed on a daily basis that this is going to end soon.
One of the reasons I enjoy reading about history is that it gives us so many lessons. A couple months ago I listened to the audiobook of The Great Influenza, which I cannot recommend enough. The book is a historical account of the 1918 Flu Pandemic. It is very well done and offers amazing insights into what happened at various levels: political, scientific, economically, and more.
Yesterday the Governor of Colorado, the state I am in, ordered mandatory masks to be worn in all public indoor places, yesterday. Orders like these were given during the 1918 pandemic as well to help protect each other. Back then as now there were people upset about these orders and protested them. In San Francisco an Anti Mask league was created and worked to have the mask order removed. I won’t be surprised to see those happen here too.
What’s old is new and what’s new is old. History repeats itself again and again. People never learn.
We hear these lines again and again, yet things keep repeating themselves anyway. Why is this? Can we learn from our mistakes and then pass those to the next generations?
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