I watched a lot of “Seinfeld” during the 90’s. One particular episode that has been on my mind of late is “The Summer of George.” It centers around George Costanza. Let me set the stage for those who are not familiar with this one. George gets fired by the New York Yankees. They offer him a 3-month severance package. It is the beginning of the Summer. Rather than do the sensible thing and look for a new job, George decides to take a 3 month vacation. He sets off with lofty aspirations of all the things he wants to accomplish during his hiatus from work. Some of his goals include taking up frisbee golf, and eating a big hunk of cheese. However, being the lazy individual that he is, George reverts to sitting on the couch all day long in his pajamas, eating snack foods, and watching TV. Due to this sedentary lifestyle, his legs start to atrophy. When he attempts to climb a set of stairs, he falls and ends up in the hospital. Thus, the Summer of George comes to a tragic conclusion. It is a tale of grand ambition that ends in disappointment.
The Summer of 2021 was supposed to be our collective “Summer of George.” After 15 months of pandemic, we were finally going to be able to enjoy life again. COVID was to be a thing of the past. We would be able to shed our masks, and return to a pre-pandemic lifestyle. Bars and restaurants would be rocking, live music and sports were coming back, everyone was going to go out and party like it was 1999. I had this incredibly niave idea that there was going to be some worldwide, end-of-covid fiesta with people dancing in the streets and raucous celebrations. Sadly, none of that came to pass. Along with the global party that never happened, I incorrectly assumed that everyone would gladly get the vaccine. Never in my wildest dreams did I think we would only be sitting at 51% of vaccinated adults as we head into Labor Day Weekend.
Don’t get me wrong, things are much better than they were during the height of the pandemic. Relatively speaking, we have a lot more freedom now than we did six months ago. The economy has bounced back to some degree. People are going out again. Travel has resumed. Many of the more onerous restrictions have been lifted. I appreciate all of that. At the same time, I feel disappointed. I think I fell into the same trap that a lot of others did. In order to mentally cope with the pandemic, I cultivated delusions of grandeur about its aftermath. I read stories about how the 1918 Spanish Flu outbreak gave rise to the roaring 20’s. It was going to be like the Great Gatsby version 2.0. At least that is how I conceptualized it. The problem is that reality often falls short of our imagination.
As we approach the Fall of 2021, I’m feeling a lot like George Costanza in his hospital bed. I’m trying to figure out where it all went off the tracks. I hate to end this on a negative note, so I am going to try for a positive spin here. COVID is eventually going to end, one way or another. If you have made it this far through the pandemic, chances are that you can survive it a bit longer. Stay sane, stay healthy, and maybe we can still have that big party down the road.
You don't want to read this 