Seeing the Future as a Glossy Prospect Is Essential
A reflection on how masks serving as a constant reminder that nothing was normal affected our ability to look forward to anything, or get anything done
I've never been one to wear much makeup, but my usual routine before heading out has always included slapping some lip gloss on. So much so that during the 1 year, 8 months, and 21 days we were living under a mask mandate here in Toronto, I never quite adjusted.
Whenever I left home to go to one of the few places open during that strange time - I would still move to put on lip gloss. As soon as I did, I would remember that there was no point when I had to wear a mask - and my heart would sink, just a little, every time.
Exactly as intended - a key reason given for mandating masks was to keep Covid at the forefront of everyone's minds
Masks served as a constant reminder never to become too relaxed. The renewed debate over mask mandates in Ontario must be seen in the context of what that constant state of unease has stolen from us - and why it is so important to end even the question of further restrictions or mandates.
We Couldn’t Fix Anything
The restrictions we were forced to live through were ostensibly necessary to keep our healthcare system from collapsing.
As our healthcare system now exists in a perpetual state of collapse (even more so than before), I'm well beyond over this argument.
Rather than explaining such systemic, long-term problems away as being due to Covid, the way we responded to Covid should be understood as a consequence of established institutional incompetence. Those in charge knew our healthcare system was far too easy to overwhelm, and reacted accordingly.
At this point, most everyone agrees that our system was broken long before Covid existed, and we need bigger fixes than restrictions can provide. But why did it seem like nobody wanted to even acknowledge this for more than two and a half years? Instead of focusing their efforts on working to fix our wholly inadequate system, why do so many of Canada’s very online doctors keep pushing for masking in perpetuity?
My strong feeling is that too much focus on reducing systemic strain through radical behavior modification is exactly what allowed our actual problems to remain unaddressed.
I see this as a bit of a pattern - remember when our Transport Minister blamed out-of-practice travellers, not restrictions, for delays at our airports; recall how Service Canada urged people to plan ahead and apply for passport services early, downplaying their own failure to prepare for the surge of applications. Similarly, Health Canada is now blaming parents' panic buying for causing over six-month-long shortages of children's pain relief and fever medicine. When our government and public institutions fail to meet their core responsibilities to citizens, they are increasingly blaming us.
This is why these restrictions need to be permanently put behind us, and we need to let go of the thought that they may be brought back. It is well past time we remembered that our institutions are supposed to serve us - we should not agree to live in deference to their failings in perpetuity.
Because placing unrealistic expectations on human behavior is not a benign act - it causes harm in itself.
We Couldn’t Look Forward to Anything
Something that really bothered me throughout Covid was the casual disregard we were asked to show for what we were asked to sacrifice.
There was a constant refrain: it’s “just” a few weeks. It’s “just” one birthday. It’s “just” one Christmas. It’s “just” one little test before a “gathering” (another word that now makes me cringe). It’s “just” a mask.
Even if it had been just a few weeks, one birthday, or one Christmas - this still would have been an intrusive, demeaning discourse. As a matter of principle, governments should never be allowed to dictate what is essential or valuable in life to this extent.
The dismissive rhetoric about how minor all our sacrifices were missed the point that it wasn't just any individual restriction that most people found bothersome - it was the entire experience of life since March 2020, in aggregate.
Changing the fundamental way we live our lives, even if only a little bit at a time, is no small thing.
For this reason, in addition to the major consequences of restrictions that are now becoming evident - to name just a few, delayed cancer treatments, developmental delays in children and the impending collapse of our economy - I believe all of the smaller consequences and frustrations we endured also need to be taken into account.
In spite of the fact that my lip gloss anecdote may seem trite, little things like this that led our hearts to sink over and over again for more than two years did matter. “Just" a little disappointment at a time can forever change a person, when that disappointment is persistent.
Even now, as things slowly return to normal, Mask Wars: Redux may still get in the way of normal celebrations for many this winter. And as long as testing is continually pushed ahead of “gatherings” (blech), we will remain unsure whether or not we will actually be able to participate in important life events. The consequences of resigning ourselves to such perpetual uncertainty may prove far greater than any virus.
It is time to stop ruminating on what might happen, and start thinking more about what could be possible.
We Need Things We Can Rely on, in Order to Plan
Leading up to our first Covid Christmas, though I wasn't on board with the idea that we should restrict our lives, even then - I did think being forced to do so might at least facilitate innovation, as one positive side effect.
Initially, it looked like while the winter might be weird, it could still be fun in novel ways. The city of Toronto allowed an extended winter patio program for curbside cafes and expanded private patios. Neat winter experiences, like an outdoor food and wine bar with a holiday forest vibe located in the heart of the city, started to pop-up.
It didn't take long for those neat winter experiences to be greatly diminished.
The outdoor food and wine bar was quickly reduced to a takeout market with limited entry, social distancing, all food and drinks to-go only - and of course, masks required. What a cheerful vibe!
We weren't allowed even that pale shadow of an experience for long - everything soon went dark, including Christmas lights drive-throughs. The Distillery District in Toronto went so far as to shut down all Christmas Tree and canopy lights in support of our second lockdown. All the effort and cost restaurants had put into designing unique outdoor dining experiences was wasted, as they were not allowed to open until spring (only to be shut down again just over a week later, until June).
And the first Covid Christmas was "just" that. Things were not much brighter in 2021.
The whole experience really broke our collective can-do spirit. If everything can be taken away from you at any time, why bother making plans? Having no expectations will prevent disappointment. However, if we resign ourselves to never expecting anything, we will never be able to solve anything.
How can we effectively debate the pros and cons of remote work, for instance, if we continue to view it through a Covid lens instead of a way forward in general? Those who believe that at least some in-person work is necessary for creativity will have a tough time arguing that if we return to masking. The sight of masked faces is ever so inspiring (and not at all demoralizing), after all.
This type of motivational deficit could similarly lead us to accept months of mandatory masking every year, rather than put in the work needed to ever really fix our healthcare system. I recall the many times we've been told this was just a temporary measure, to give the system time to breathe, as some double down and try to push the same argument once more. How is it that allowing breathing room only ever makes them more exhausted? Forgive me if I think it is past time we think differently about all of this.
My own "can-do" spirit has been reduced to what could now be better described as "don't tell me what we can't do". As in, we shut down the whole world over a mild virus - don't ever tell me anything is impossible, ever again.
To rekindle my former optimism - I can reframe this as recognizing that Covid gave us an opportunity to realize the “way things are” is not the way they have to be. However, if we simply accept the restrictions we normalized during Covid as the new "way things are" - the potential of that idea will never be realized.
We Need To Admit Mistakes in Order to Move Forward
Masks weren't my hill to die on - and at least at first, I thought they might be a bridge to normalcy. As in, I thought a security blanket would ease the transition back to normal life for those who weren't quite ready for it right away. I was fine with that - in July 2020, when masks were first introduced as a "temporary" measure.
As it has become clear that the "remind people to take everything seriously" aspect of masking triumphed over the "get back out there" element - I consider the overall push to mask much more harmful now than I did then.
It is particularly troubling that rather than acknowledging any of the harms caused by Covid measures - we are instead doubling down on asserting that wearing face coverings in public spaces is a largely effortless gesture. Once again, this is deemed the "least we can do" to relieve hospital stress - but now to prevent long-established diseases we have always lived with normally, like the flu and RSV.
Masking season has apparently become synonymous with cold and flu season, as many people are now explicitly saying that masks should be worn every year. While some still attempt to frame their efforts to “once again make masking a social norm” as a temporary measure, others outright state that masks should be brought back "every cold and flu season, in perpetuity".
Can we just disregard these as extremes? Hopefully! Nevertheless, you can't have it both ways. Masks can't be proclaimed as such powerful reminders to take things seriously, while simultaneously minimising them as "just" a mask - such a small, insignificant thing to ask people to wear - whenever the thought of having to wear them again triggers a reaction against the idea of restrictions as a whole.
Masks most definitely worked in at least one way they were intended - they viscerally remind us all too well of the shadow of a life we were forced to live for more than two years.
In my view, the full vibrancy of life is very important - and I will not just let it go.
To me, calls to #MaskUp just sound like giving up - a declaration of failure and a death knell for our ambition.
Normal for me is to look forward to the future, and to envision what new and exciting things may be possible. The idea that we all should once again live like peasants in the dark ages, huddled in our caves, cowering in fear of the cold and pestilence as the winter winds blow in, is not acceptable to me. This is no way to move forward as a society.
If we can manage to avoid reverting to the now all-too familiar cycle of restrictions during this fall and winter, then this will finally, truly be over - and it needs to be. It's time to move forward, and not feel like if we try we'll only be pulled back. It is only then that we can determine what it all meant and what else is possible from here on out.
Even though it made me a bit sad each time I was reminded of its futility - I am glad that I never quite broke my lip gloss habit. I see this as confirmation that I am optimistic by default (albeit cynical). But while I was able to maintain that spirit - it was nevertheless diminished by such a demoralizing experience.
The winter is dark enough as it is - I won't allow anyone to further dim my shine in the coming months. Not even the shine on my lips.