There’s Something Weird About This Pandemic

Have you noticed it, too?

Photo by Mae Mu on Unsplash

When all air traffic was grounded for a few days after September 11, 2001, I made a point to look up as often as I could to appreciate what the sky looked like to people who lived before airplanes started leaving lines across it. I was conscious that I might never have such an opportunity again.

On the first night of the great northeast blackout of 2003 the Milky Way was visible in downtown Toronto. I looked up to see what the stars looked like to urban dwellers who lived before electric streetlights blotted most of them out. I guessed I’d never experience such a sight from that spot again.

Now, with a global pandemic playing out, I find myself, once more, stopping to take note of how the event has changed things around me. I, again, wonder if it’s an experience I’ll ever see repeated.

I’m not looking up at the sky this time. I’m looking at my electronic devices.

Photo by Martin Sattler on Unsplash

Early in January, I managed to pick up Covid-19. It planted me on my couch beneath a blanket, remote in hand, consuming dozens of hours of YouTube and Netflix content. On the first day I was sick, the live streamer I…