The following is presented as part of The Columbian’s Opinion content, which offers a point of view in order to provoke thought and debate of civic issues. Opinions represent the viewpoint of the author. Unsigned editorials represent the consensus opinion of The Columbian’s editorial board, which operates independently of the news department.
It is a rare moment that my adult son asks. It is an even rarer moment that I don’t have a laundry list of mostly useless advice.
But I’m stumped.
Should he cancel his planned trip to the Consumer Electronics Show — the mega-convention for his industry, where he has dozens of meetings planned, not to mention a mega-holiday weekend with his longtime girlfriend? Thousands of people are asking themselves the same question.
Should I cancel my lunch with Annie, where we will gossip and maybe even shop afterward?
Here’s my answer. After two years of canceling everything, avoiding everyone, going nowhere, buying nothing that I could see first … I don’t want to.
It comes down to that. Science? What is science telling me? Science told me six feet was the right distance — until it came time for school, when three feet became enough. Quarantine was 10 days — until the planes couldn’t be staffed, and now five days is plenty.
No disrespect to the scientific miracles that brought us vaccines and saved untold lives, but as for an answer about whether to eat inside with other people who have also been vaccinated, according to their cards, who knows? Are we wrong?
There are still plenty of people for whom COVID-19 poses life-threatening risks because of other conditions.
It’s times like this, of course, that provide opportunities for leadership. People like me spent a year bemoaning the failure of former President Donald Trump to unite this country and lead us out of the wilderness.
President Joe Biden’s 500 million home test kits — the ones I tried gave me two accurate results and three false positives for a total waste of two days and close to $100 — hardly seem like an answer.
The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention has, both fairly and unfairly, come to be seen as totally politicized.
This much I know: I’m not the only one who is looking for any excuse I can find to go out. To have conversations with people instead of screens. To go to an actual, in-person meeting.
My law partner comes over to do what we might accomplish on the phone. And, miracle of miracle, even with the socializing and small talk, we get more done when we’re together — and definitely have more fun.
My father used to say, “There’s a reason they call it ‘work,’ ” but working remotely generally means working alone, which after two years translates into professional loneliness that calls out for escape. Mind you, I know how lucky I am to have spent the pandemic in front of a computer instead of behind a bar, but two years is a long time.
I’m ready to go back. To lunch. To conventions. And, yes, to work.
But is it wrong? Who is to tell us? Who do you listen to?
Susan Estrich is a professor of law and political science at the University of Southern California and a Creators Syndicate columnist. Reach her at info@creators.com.
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