Elephant’s Continually-updating Coronavirus Diary. ~ Waylon

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I keep thinking about the distance.

We have a long way to go. It is a hard-reset socially for us all. So many changes will take place because of these times, but here I’d like to focus on one particular social construct that now has the chance to be balanced out.

Boundaries are being reset—or in a way you could say we are no longer as blind to them.

In a time that was already reaching an apex of boundaries being crossed, the silence has been breaking all around the globe. This movement highlighted by #MeToo was a rally cry of urgency to communicate to us all that people’s personal space has been physically violated to no end, basically being accepted by society’s status quo. We now have two United States presidential candidates running against each other, both with multiple allegations. This is how normalized it all is.

It’s time to wake up.

Now by unrelated circumstances, we’ve been “socially distancing” to the point where people have been avoiding direct contact with even trusted loved ones, physically avoiding them to various degrees. While friends video chat and neighbors talk across the street, greetings are without hugging or shaking hands. In certain cultures, refraining from customary kisses. Of course, there are those who oppose the distance, but the general consensus deems the importance of these boundaries.

What I am most curious to watch is how all of this will transition into the natural future ahead of us. How long will it take for meetings and greetings to happen without a second thought? No one really knows. We will be forced to pay more attention to each other’s comfort levels in doing so.

People abuse what becomes the cultural norm.

Now more than ever we have the chance to see things with a renewed clarity. So let’s ask ourselves: What am I comfortable allowing into my personal space? And what would they be comfortable having in their personal space?

Whether it is a friendly hug or kiss hello all the way to people in powerful positions behind closed doors, we are now obligated to ease ourselves back into the ways of socially acceptable interaction. I am curious to watch the world slowly find its way back to a sense of regular.

Don’t fight it. It is true, we need a new normal.

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