How do you move on after the pandemic?
How do you forgive the friend who called you a Nazi for wearing a mask, or the one who called you a sheep for following public health restrictions?
How do you sit at Bible study beside the girl who flouted every single rule – who called it a “scamdemic” after “doing her own research” via memes and YouTube – who fought with hospital security when they told her she needed to wear a mask to enter when in reality she was lucky they had a spot for her in the hospital at all?
How do you go back to park playdates with someone who refused to isolate her sick kids? How do you forget the time she said “The ones who die all have comorbidities, so it doesn’t matter!” when there are people with those very same comorbidities in your immediate family?
How do you have Girl’s Night with the friend who dismissed it all as “a big pharma conspiracy” - all while trying to sell you supplements and “Immune Plus” tablets from her MLM company?
How do you make polite small talk with the mom who posted Christmas photos with all of her extended family on social media (while gatherings were prohibited) – when you couldn’t travel across the country to support a family member undergoing chemotherapy?
How do you respect the man who purposely ignored isolation procedures and spread the illness to at least 16 others, including 2 who had to be hospitalized?
How do you open your heart to care about people who so clearly have not cared about others?
How do you move on?