Thread by @Norlaine

We are having a moment in history. A Pandemic. Economies are crashing. People are rethinking what their life means to them. What work means to them.

Our planet is burning and we have yet to come to terms with the sacrifices required to abate it. 1/14

Violence erupts in streets all over the world. The colour of your skin can mean the difference between life and death. Totalitarian governments are rising. People who, given their history, should eschew tyranny, are dealers in tyranny. 2/14

The ghosts of past injustices arrive and a lot of people are having trouble dealing.

A growing "land mass" of plastic waste is floating in the ocean. A testament to human arrogance. 3/14

We are killing off, directly or indirectly, species after species. Extinction is forever. And yet, we don't do anything about it. Not as a massive movement. 4/14

Employers exploit workers. Employers and governments unite to crush unions. They long for the days of slavery. "So efficient. So profitable. And having to pretend to be civil to inferiors is so tiresome." 5/14

The rise of disinformation. Outright lies from leaders. News media in cahoots with one political side. "Think tanks" funded to generate junk reports that shore up the political view of the right and/or send up trial balloons for prospective policy. 6/14

Since when did Joe Blow, the plumber you met on the bus, have just as valid opinions about vaccines as a highly respected epidemiologist? What has become of respect for expertise? Have the charlatans co-opted the show? 7/14

At least one provincial government is bringing in a curriculum that smacks of 19th century ideas of education. Highly dependent on rote memorization and with a certain white Christian slant... 8/14

At least one province in Canada is bringing in legislation that looks startlingly like a resurrection of residential schools. Check out Bill 64. Specifically the bits about students in northern Manitoba. 9/14

Police violence is a huge problem. Homelessness is a huge problem. Opioid addiction is a huge problem. Anti-vaxxers are a huge problem. Just ask my friend who is a pediatric ER doctor. She is seeing cases that are entirely preventable. 10/ 14

These are but some of the things that keep me up at night. I don't think I am alone. We are living in interesting times. 11/14

Despite all of that, we remain human. We sometimes need a bubble bath, or to curl up with a good book and pretend none of it is real. Sometimes we need to buy a bouquet from the grocery store, or take drive in the country. 12/14

Sometimes we need ice cream, or onion rings, or to just veg out while binging a tv series. Sometimes we need to go for a long hike.

These things create a sense of normalcy when nothing is normal. 13/14

And that is ok. It's even good. It's ok to take breaks. No one can be stressed and vigilant and heroic all the time. We all need to take breaks. It's ok. There are enough of us that we can take breaks. The mayhem will still be here when you get back. 14/14