Maya Angelou: “I’ve learned that people will forget what you said, people will forget what you did, but people will never forget how you made them feel.”
COVID-19 put the whole world into a panic. There’s been a lot of verbal abuse, finger pointing, bullying, outright lying, extreme government overreach, hysteria, hypochondria, anxiety, hostility, and fear to last a lifetime. Everybody’s life has been upset in one way or another, with no end in sight. We’ve seen people at their worst.
The question is: if the pandemic ended tomorrow, how would we heal the broken relationships, reverse the mistrust that people feel, overcome the lies, forgive the hurtful words and accusations, and unite as a people? The damage has already been done. People turned on each other like rabid dogs. Some people are still expressing their hatred; their desire to hurt others; their need to segregate; their willingness to kill others who don’t comply with their demands.
The long-term social effects of COVID-19 — and the inept and malicious way in which it has been handled — is a mountain we still have to climb. Will you trust your doctor again? Your teacher? Government bureaucracy? The CDC? DHHS? NIH? The president? Congress? Facebook? Twitter? Big Pharma? Corporate America? The twisted media? The unions? Your interfering ex-friends? Your spying neighbors? Your stressed-out boss? Divisive family members? Attention-seeking celebrities? Will you ever trust ANYONE again?
Will you ever feel safe again? Feel healthy again? Or will you live in fear of the next germ that shows up to affect our lives? Will you still douse yourself in hand sanitizer and wash your hands 10 times a day? Will you still stay 6 feet away from everybody, thereby preventing new relationships into your life? Will you keep popping the tranquilizers, sipping the booze, smoking the weed to alleviate your anxiety? Will you suffer from permanent social anxiety and fear as a result of your experience with the pandemic?
What about the children? Will they be able to trust our authority figures again? Their teachers? Their parents? Their pediatricians? Will they have long-term anxiety and lung problems from wearing masks all day? From social isolation? Inadequate learning? Have they lost valuable social and language skills that would have contributed to their success in life?
And who’s addressing these issues? And does anybody really care?
Dawn Pisturino, RN
January 31, 2022
Copyright 2022 Dawn Pisturino. All Rights Reserved.
Dawn Pisturino's Blog 
Excellent questions. No easy solutions. I believe that people hate others because it is more comfortable than feeling their own pain. It might be a place to start by allowing ourselves to stop running from our own feelings and let them go through us. They never stay, but it can be scary to steer through them.
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Excellent point! Thank you!
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i know it s like hey people you re born dying and the world is trying to kill you. so what else s new? lmao good post. very thoughtful and deep.
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Thanks, John!
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yw
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This is a very good narrative Dawn and one that I have been stressing for years now (pre-COVID). I find, however, that politics these days is the biggest divider around. There are people who I know are highly intelligent and well-educated individuals with a plethora of certifications and degrees, but some of the things that comes out of their mouths has left my jaw on the floor.
Your question of trust is something that is not an easy yes or no, because we have seen families, friends, colleagues, etc., whose relationships are ripped apart due to some extremist ways of thinking, no matter who they are. I still have hope Dawn, even though we know that repairing that trust is going to take a lot of dialogue, empathy, “compassion,” love, and work. We’ve seen such a divide in different times before, although it seems like we are still fighting the same kind of issues and arguments all over again.
I agree that more people than I care to admit, have short and shorter fuses, but when it comes from our leaders (political, corporate, religious, financial, educational, and heads of households) they have the power to turn the narrative from a divisive pit to a more unifying platform. Of course we are not all going to agree on every issue. Thank God that we still have a democracy in our country. Right now we see widespread “assassinations of character, ethics, and systems” that halt and hinder instead of helping. It’s hard to find the adult in the room! 😣
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Some of the dumbest people I’ve met had college degrees up the ying-yang. Some of the smartest, most down-to-earth people I’ve met were just simple, hard-working people making minimum wage. That’s why I talk to everybody. That’s also part of my training as a nurse. Everybody matters. It’s hard not to be cynical nowadays, but – like you – I am hopeful that the better part of human nature will shine through and be ultimately victorious. Thanks, Kym! I’m with you on this!
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Dawn girlfriend, I couldn’t have said that any better my dear!!! 👏🏼🥰👏🏼 Without hope, where will we be? 😊
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To address the bigger picture; did we expect nature would calmly tolerate the abuse and violation of its realm? The warning signs have been many and are still drowned out continuously by our ignorance. Eight billion humans and three thousand tigers are left in the wild; can anyone make sense out of that equation?
What did we expect the day of reckoning would look like? It never happens like we had imagined. Nature uses slowly eroding processes!
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The conditions we have endured are largely political since COVID-19 is not a virulent enough virus to wipe out the human race or even come close to it. That apocalyptic event is yet to come. But, you are right – if humans panicked over COVID, just imagine what a bloodbath a real apocalyptic event would be!
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Ich habe Deinen Beitrag mit Interesse gelesen, alles verstanden und alles bejaht.
Meine Antwort:
Ich werde es wahrscheinlich nie verzeihen können, aber die Pandemie ist auch noch lange nicht vorbei. Und wer weiß, wenn die Wahrheit alle erreicht, könnte es sein, dass nicht wir verzeihen müssen, sondern die, die uns schmerzlich verwundet haben.
Ich habe auf jeden Fall gelernt, dass es in Amerika auch nicht anders ist als in Deutschland. Ich habe es geahnt, aber nicht gewusst.
Im österreichischen Fernsehen haben Experten davon gesprochen, dass diese “Pandemie”, die Ausmaße des Contergan- Skandals weit übertreffen werden.
Be cool. ciao
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As a registered nurse, I have seen some of the lies from the very beginning – and other nurses (and doctors) have, as well. When you work in a hospital, you have already been taught what works and what doesn’t in an infectious situation. You have already been taught the basics of immunology. Unfortunately, when the truth finally comes out, years later, it will be too late. No, this is worldwide, Karl! And yes, I have heard about what the experts in Austria have said!
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