Saving Schrödinger's Cat

Gathering 'round the Screen

On Thursday, people all across the continent will gather together in the annual tradition of bingeing and gossiping. While the tradition dates back centuries, even before the Pilgrims allegedly stepped from the Mayflower onto the Rock of History, our contemporaries seemed to have claimed it for their own. Even Old-World cultures seemed to have adopted the practice. And why not? It’s a time for family and good cheer, and it conveniently takes place at a time when the harvest is almost universally agreed to take place (sorry Australia), and pantries across the world are overflowing with offerings to the gods of gluttony.

Needless to say, things are different this year. Gatherings have become verboten to protect the public health from the nasty bugs that are making their rounds. I had to cancel my own Turkey Day plans to protect the health of the vulnerable, and there are many in my family. Of course, this doesn’t mean that no one can get together at all. If the social circle is small and individuals take care to protect themselves and others from infection, the risk is manageable, though far too many are continuing to put themselves and others at excessive risk because America… or freedom… or something.

As I write this, my own thanksgiving plans are in flux, like some kind of shapeshifter that can’t decide on a form. Those that I would have over are seeing their own plans come together only to be cast aside, the proverbial battle plan that has encountered the enemy. I will probably do what I always do and invite a few friends and family from my already small social circle, in keeping with the safe practices of our current necessity.

This year, Thanksgiving comes courtesy of silicon and electricity, a softly glowing update to an old tradition where social distancing is the perpetual guest to all events. Why do we call it “social distancing” anyway? We can still talk to and even see each other thanks to the miracles of modern technology. I think a more appropriate term would be “physical distancing” to hopefully describe all our circumstances these holidays. Physical, not social distancing will be my norm.

And so it goes as we hurtle to the close of a year I want to leave in the street for the dogs, except I suspect even the dogs will turn their noses up at it. Though a solitary creature by nature, I will use these upcoming holidays to remind myself and others in my social circles that we all still ride this tumbling rock together, even if it will be at a couple of arms-lengths for the foreseeable future. So, this is one of the very few things I am thankful for this year: that the sun still shines, that cats still purr when you scratch them on the chin, and that we have never been better equipped to battle loneliness over the holidays during a pandemic than we are right now.