Greetings to all! Is your life as hard as mine right now? Actually, no need to answer that question, it’s purely rhetorical. I already know your life now sucks in ways you never would have imagined just months ago. If you’ve been grasping for silver linings, join the club. On good days, I can find them all around – this is a change for our planet to raise its energy vibration, for all of us to learn better compassion, for social changes we didn’t think possible, to reimagine our societies as well as personal lives, etc. On bad days, just getting through a consecutive morning, afternoon and evening feels like an insurmountable challenge. I look back on my last post from when all of this was just starting and can’t help but shake my head in pity. I had no idea how long this was going to be, how unyielding the new world of mask-wearing and social distancing would be. Now, please don’t take me the wrong way – I am extraordinarily grateful that nobody in my life has been sickened by coronavirus in a life-threatening way. Yet. And I pray not ever. But I need to say this because it’s driving me nuts how absent standpoints like this are from our civil discourse right now. I strongly believe that while being imperatively protective of physical health, social distancing / isolation mandates are profoundly harmful to mental and spiritual health. That’s not an argument against social distancing – those are stupid. I mean, obviously we have to do it from a public health perspective, the same with mask-wearing. At the public health level, these measures should have been mandated back in January, if we had any real federal leadership…but that’s another column. Seriously, though, I wish there was a deeper understanding of how damaging this is to the psyche, and don’t get me started on how children are being impacted developmentally.
As with any rules, there are always exceptions. No, such exceptions should not be made for Trump supporters at rallies. Somebody’s ignorance about infectious disease and epidemiological realities is not the type of thing that should qualify as an exception. What SHOULD qualify are things like, for example, sensory and neurodevelopmental disabilities…you know where I’m going with this. No, Eva can’t tolerate the freaking mask! And I’ve got news for all of you who look askance at me when I’m out walking with her around the neighborhood – that is not going to change any time soon. Since she was a baby, the rather remarkable exception to Eva’s proprioceptive issues and frequent lack of body awareness has been when we try to put anything on her face or in her hair. Sunglasses, hats, hairclips, even headphones – you name it – they don’t stay on for more than three seconds. I have to think she will be able to get past this at some point soon, but I know for sure that pressuring her will only lengthen the time it takes for her to grapple with this issue. Children with profound sensory and anxiety issues are great examples of who SHOULD be exceptions to the rules of mask-wearing. Eva will have no access to the public world, at a core time for social development, without this exception being made. And it will matter how it is made – for example, if people pressure her to try even in the slightest, her already full anxiety bucket will overflow and we will be in meltdown city. Unfortunately, mask wearing for her has now become a flashpoint for declaring and defending her disability to the world. I’m sure there are many others out there facing similar circumstances, and what pisses me off, frankly, is that children in general being immensely pressured to comply with these requirements on top of already heightened anxiety levels across the board. This, despite the fact that masks are only recommended, not required, for children under age 10. Can we please give children a break? And not just autistic children. Children everywhere, who should be allowed to go to playgrounds if their families feel comfortable with them doing so, with loads of hand sanitizer available. Children who should be allowed, with sufficient but not ridiculous spacing, in swimming pools with ample levels of chlorine. Children who should not be pressured into wearing a mask if they truly cannot tolerate it. They are already getting the short end of the deal with all of this. We have a duty to try to mitigate the psychic and developmental consequences for this generation. So I say, continue to formally require all smart public health measures – six feet apart, social distancing, required mask-wearing indoors – which should be applied and enforced broadly. But please, be flexible with appropriate exceptions, especially for children.
Infinity Prose 