We Need to Recognize How the Pandemic Changed Us

“Life is short” used to be a cliché. It’s now a fact of life.

If the COVID-19 pandemic taught us anything, it’s that our time on Earth is short and precious. We’ve lost more than a year to the pandemic and the impact will be felt for the rest of our lives. None of us that lived through this pandemic will ever be the same. And that’s okay.

Regardless of how you personally dealt with the pandemic, or if you were fortunate enough to avoid personal loss, the past 15 months have been hard. We’ve lost hundreds of thousands of Americans, which means we’ve lost hundreds of thousands of family members, of friends, of co-workers, of old classmates. We’ve lost millions jobs and countless businesses.

We all lost time and lots of it. I didn’t see my parents for over a year. My sister in California had a daughter right as the pandemic struck last March and I will only get to see her for the first time next month. My godson has doubled in age since the last time we saw him. I’ll see my grandfather who lives in Las Vegas for the first in nearly two years come July. It’s been hard.

As we finally transition to the re-opening phase of the pandemic across the entire country — and not just the stupid states like Florida jumping the gun — the main focus of media coverage and political debate has been on the…