Back to Normal
It’s hard for those of us in Iowa to understand just how abnormal things still are in many parts of the country. You can tell it when you hear me interview people from large cities…recent examples of folks from New York and Dallas come to mind. They talk about some future time when kids are back in school, or when people return to the workplace.
I feel compelled to remind them that we’ve been back in school here since last fall, and roughly 85 percent of our workforce never stopped going to their workplace. They always seem surprised; part of the knowledge gap, even among smart people, between those in big cities and the rest of the country.
After a year off, community celebrations and events are back in full swing this month, and if you’re like me, you’re going to spend time at one this weekend. We had a record crowd for the KOKZ Fourth Street Cruise over Memorial Day in downtown Waterloo, which is now playing host to My Waterloo Days and will welcome RAGBRAI a month and a half from now. The Cedar Rapids Freedom Festival folks are sending us news releases about all their events about to get underway as part of their annual two-week celebration. And the calendar is full of important annual community gatherings in hometowns all across Iowa.
And my guess is that if what we’ve seen so far is any indication, there will be big attendance, sighs of relief that the COVID nightmare of last year is behind us, and lots of smiles on faces…faces that won’t be covered by pretty worthless masks.
Yes, COVID is still out there. Yes, some precautions need to be taken.
But we are back…and if there’s a spike in illness, we’ll know better how to handle it…and won’t allow ourselves to be deprived of our normal lives again.
