It’s January 1st, 2022. Without telling anyone, I’m going to try and write a blog post every day this year. I’m not going to tell anyone I’m doing this. I’m not going to broadcast these posts on social media. I’m just going to quietly do this thing in the hopes that the act of forming words and coherent thoughts will reignite my drive to write again.

My wrap-up post yesterday was a bit of a downer. Maybe today, with a fresh start to the year, I can turn it around intentionally and make something more positive.

The day started off well enough. I got up too early to put the cat outside, then went back to bed and slept in until just after 10AM. Then I made waffles for me and Melissa, puttered around in Valheim, and finally decided to look at Twitter to see what hot nonsense was going on in the world.

And of course, found “Mass Formation Psychosis” trending. The hottest nonsense I’ve seen in a while.

This gets to the heart of my sorrow and loneliness. I feel like one of the many outnumbered adults in a gymnasium, surrounded by children that we’re not at liberty to correct. These children are running around with lit torches, screaming whenever someone tries to calm things down.

What do small children do when faced with having to do something they do not want to do? They throw a fit, lash out, and deny reality. They make a lot of noise. Sometimes they throw a tantrum. They want ice cream, not vegetables. They’d rather play than do their homework. They don’t want to go to bed, and they don’t want to take a bath.

The reality is that over 800,000 Americans have died directly from Covid-19. While it is true that it is unlikely that you will die if you get the virus, it is also true that if you get the virus, you are likely to spread it. You might spread it to someone that is not as lucky as you. You might get sick enough that you have to go to the hospital and take up medical resources that would otherwise go to someone else. You might be the millionth person infected by this strain, allowing the virus to mutate into the next variation that may or may not be more deadly.

It’s math. There is currently a low risk of death for individuals, so individuals feel less fear. But the threat is to humanity at large. And too many people don’t see themselves as part of a larger body.

So bunches and bunches and bunches of so called adults see themselves as individuals, with no responsibility to other people around them, and insist on not getting vaccinated, going out whenever they like, not taking necessary precautions in order to stop the threat… it just goes on and on.

And now these same idiots are going on about “Mass Formation Psychosis.”

I’m staying home as much as I can. I wear a mask when I go out. I got vaccinated. I got my booster. When it’s time to get the next booster, I’ll get that, too. And it’s not because I think I’ll die if I get Covid-19. It’s because I don’t want to be the one to pass it one to someone else that will die. It’s because I don’t want to be the one that incubates the next variant, which might be more deadly or more vaccine resistant. I see myself as part of a larger body, and I want to take care of that body as much as am able.

I look online and I see people crowded together without masks, going about their lives like everything is okay and normal.

As of this writing, there have been 288 million worldwide cases, and 5.4 million dead from Covid-19. That’s just under 2%. So yes, you that may be reading these words, have a 98% chance of surviving if you catch Covid-19. But you might pass it on, and then the next variant will eventually come around, and then you’ll have to roll the dice again. And again. And again. And all of the people around you will have to keep rolling the dice again, and again, and again.

It’s math, but humanity and human nature is the problem. It’s not the kind of problem I’m capable of solving.