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Thas been regular mention that perhaps the new normal, brought about by the coronavirus pandemic is now the norm. As we head to another Christmas within COVID-19 regualations, we need to manoeuver with what we have, lest we risk missing out on the most important season of the year.
The spiking number of cases the past few weeks has been stuff out of a horror movie. As one status suggested, “Omicron is airborne.” That hypothesis is of course not scientifically proven, but the scary numbers indeed make it almost believable. Scary to a rational mind though.
As you walk in the streets, even in the CBD, you still see irrational people casually and ignorantly walking about without masks. Sometimes people board public service vehicles(PSVs) with masks on and then remove them to enjoy a cob of maize punctuated by the odd dry cough and saliva spray which places numerous others at risk of whatever they may be infected with. PSVs have become a potential spreader point if the operators are not strict enough.
At one point in South Africa, there was a sign at a church that advised people who had a flue in the past two weeks to rather catch it online until fully recovered. That is being responsible.
HERE Santa Claus wearing a face mask.
You do not even need a sign to tell you these things. No need to bellow like Julias Malema and scream, ‘Mama show me a sign’ the signs are there.
The freakish number of infections just says wear your masks, sanitise frequently and if you have any flu-like symptoms, just stay at home. It can be less simple than that. But as my English teacher would say, ‘Sometimes simplicity is difficult.’
This is the last feature before Christmas. Christmas a time we had grown to love because of its power to reunite us with friends, family and others.
A time of love, giving and reconciliation. They do not make Christmas like they used to is what makes love so beautiful, it is the sacrifices we make to build the bond; the time, the self-attitude, giving our pride away for love, and ignoring our ego .
Love changes us as well, to both good and bad, but then that is our duty, to ensure that we do not lose who we are, because even in love it still does not mean that our dreams change, but that we have dreams to accomplish and before succeeding in love, we have to excel also when it comes to our dreams, after all our dreams make us who we are, who they fall in love with at first place.
Lately, I have been observing how we tend to allow ourselves to be manipulated in relationships, I do not know whether to call it ignorance or blindness …a disease we tend to have when we are so deep in love.
SACRIFICES
But we are just unsure and do not realise when we have to make more sacrifices than we should and when we are losing a part of us that should not be lost, we just keep on going until we are drained and have nowhere else to run to.
So much that, we find ourselves removing, dettaching ourselves from our dear ones, those that try giving us warnings, and we think to ourselves they just never want to see us happy, all they want is only for them to be happy …but is that true?
There is nothing wrong with giving in any relationship. Yes, though. We no longer see the excitement of the new Christmas clothes we had growing up. The youth today own smartphones from the age of four or less. Things are just not the same. Add to the mix the complications brought about by the pandemic and we have an even stranger Christmas on our hands.
Last year, if I am not mistaken, Christmas took place during a partial lockdown and by evening we were all tucked in our houses. There was no euphoria or door to door snacking of delicacies from our friends or neighbours.
It was a dull Christmas for many. So dull even many restaurants did not offer any specials. The same with Valentine’s Day. there will never be a problem with providing for in a relationship. I mean not every day is a good day for everyone, so definitely there will be days where we have to reach out for each other, and by that I mean financially. I never see a problem when I have to buy my man something he needs but cannot afford at that moment, “if I can” then I will reach out. Well, I believe that relationships are all about helping each other and being there through thick and thin, and that is what builds the love. But, this should not mean that I am forced to reach out even when I cannot. I should not be bullied or pushed into a corner for that. Imagine that every day you get to buy them airtime, food, toiletry, pay their bills, buy them clothes.
Like if they would just call and demand then I have to jump just because I am in love. There is a difference between asking that I do something for you and demanding that I do something … “Please can you get me lunch, I am kind of running short on cash love.” Versus, “Get me lunch and bring it to me, I am hungry.” There is a huge difference between these two lines, but we are always rushing to cater for them and not analyse anything, but when those that care about us hear such, they try warning us, that we are being bullied but hey, we never have time for nonsense now do we?
Sometimes, they stay with us, in our houses or even if we are
For Valentine’s Day I am happy though. It is an unnecessary expense if you subscribe to the ‘show me love 365 days a year’ mantra.
Be that as it may, now we are fast approaching Christmas and by this time next week, we will be home for the special day. How will it look like?
An article on the festive season in which various scientists were interested, suggests that our health is in our hands, literally.
Prof Neil Ferguson, an epidemiologist at Imperial College London, interviewed by the Guardian in the United Kingdom says contact rates over the Christmas period are generally much lower than they are on either side of the Christmas period – people, children, are not in school people are not in work.
“Whether people have relatives around for Christmas lunch will not make an enormous difference. If lots of people have wild parties that may make a difference. I think people can be sensible and judge the risks,” he says. However, he says he has cancelled any parties.
I also have none. But as the epidemiologist suggests perhaps we are fearing the worst for no reason. Indeed if you are around the same group there is no reason to fear.
A similar feature on BBC dissects the situation and notes that indeed for many it may be a lonely Christmas.
The renowned media house quotes a performer and loneliness campaigner Carys Eleri noting that she has cancelled a large Christmas.
in theirs. And they do as they please and it becomes as if we do not exist in their lives. They ignore us in every way possible and yes because we are in love, we always make excuses for them. We trust them more than ourselves, such that even if our inner being could sense that we are going on a wrong road, we still deny it and believe love will conquer all.
Well, yes, love does conquer, but only if it is for a good cause, not when we are being fools to our own selves. What do you make out of an instance where while staying in the same house, they go out at night, come back the next day, drunk or not, and not bother explaining or when we tend to ask where they have been after they were not answering calls, then they overreact and start telling us of how much our insecurities are affecting what we have.
TRUTH
Even worse they remind us that as long as they are under their own roof, we can never question them.
I do not know why we never read through their words because there is so much truth hidden in them. They tell us everything, but we never give ourselves time to listen. They may apologise and claim they might have overreacted, but it doesn’t change the fact that they said it anyways and they will still say it again and we would still believe them anyway. Love is about trust, but not ignorance of things clear to us, not foolishness nor patience for unworthy things. We need to remind ourselves of our worth, not money
She has planned a small family Christmas and drinks with friends but has come to terms with the fact that the pandemic means plans do not always work out.
“I tried to lower my expectations and just be quite relaxed about this and think of the bigger picture - I’m safe and healthy and my family are healthy,” she said.
However, for those already tackling festive logistics, experts online advise that there are measures that should be taken to reduce the risks. This is something I can go for.
These measures include all those we considered last year – thinking about the vulnerability of those you are visiting. It calls for maximising the chance that you are not infectious (for example) by testing, restricting contact beforehand; and making indoor spaces as safe as possible in terms of ventilation, limiting numbers and crowding, and using sanitiser and face masks, the experts advise.
Whatever the case, as in last year, we need to continue spreading love. If we want to be cautious, which we should, then we should be around those we have always been and avoid large crowds. But we should continue to spread the love using technology, sending messages, doing video calls and connecting with our friends and family as this remains the time for that. Most importantly we must not forget the pivotal reason for Christmas which is to celebrate the birth of Jesus Christ.
This, therefore, means honouring the day with reading the Word as well as being in the church if we can.
Wishing you dear readers, a safe, healthy and joyous remainder of the festive season. Keep following the COVID-19 regulations and all the best.
or property but love, that has no bad intention, that has no weapon to kill us but that is there to make us and give us a chance to find us, not to destroy us and our dreams but to push us further to fight for what we want to be.
Love should not make us feel as though we are not enough, and it should never question our capability. It should not make us want to give up on the things that keep pushing us to live and fight, instead it should encourage us to keep striving for our dreams. Love should be a muse, not a reason to let go and crush everything.
Love must wake us up and give us hope even when the going gets tough, it should not make us tire, and it should not feel as though it is a burden but, it should be that one thing that makes us happy and want to work on all the time. We should not be the ones calling every time, starting conversations every day, nor should we be trying to see them all the time or willing to make time, but it should be a mutual thing, we should all long for each other, have the urge to make it work.
If you find yourself forcing conversations, recheck, maybe the love has been exhausted, so you cannot be forcing it.
Love must make you, it should get you to wish to experience more. It must counsel you, make you happy and feel the need to be loved and love, if it does not get to you this way, then do not fight it, let go before it breaks you and you lose you. #YOUAREIMPORTANT!
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