Wonderland 2021

A. Looking Glass House - #1 "Reflections"

Lessons learned in 2020.

“You can’t teach an old dog new tricks.” That’s an old saying. Boy, did we all show that to be false. The whole world learned to change their ways in a matter of days.

We learned to wear a mask, stay away from other people, learn how to contact other people online, learn how to cook for ourselves, and how to teach our children. We also learned how to hate, call each other names, kill, and create mayhem and madness.

We learned that an illness could take down the world. A virus, unseen to the human eye, changed life as we know it. But this virus is not unlike other viruses of the past. It’s just that we have not seen illness on this scale since 1918. The world has been sheltered and coddled.

Technology had made us lazy. We are used to things changing in an instant. Instant TV, instant noodles, instant food, order it today - get it tomorrow.

Then suddenly the infrastructure fell apart. We couldn’t get the things we needed. Cleaning supplies and toilet paper seemed to disappear. Then we couldn’t see our friends and relatives. They seemed to disappear. Then we couldn’t go to work and school. Those connections also disappeared.

But there is another saying. “Nothing is constant but change.” So we changed our ways. We worked from home. Zoom, Go-to-meeting. We went to school online. We messaged our loved ones. We talked to them online. FaceTime. Facebook. We ordered food online. DoorDash, über eats.

We argue about everything now. Not content with anything, so we changed our President. Perhaps that will help. But no, things are still bad. They said the mask would work. They said the vaccine would work.

Where is that magic bullet? Where is that magic fix? Where is the quick cure? Why don’t things change in an instant? They do on TV. In the movies. On Netflix. On Demand. I pay for it. I want it now. I want my money back.

How do I get a refund for 2020? Sorry, no refund without a receipt.
You’ll have to live with this.

W/C 353



Queen Norma Jean.