Despite the best attempts of the media and the progressive establishment that goes with it, Covid appears to be finally finished. The constant fear-mongering over "the variants" doesn’t seem to be working and data out of the U.K. show that Covid is evolving into a common cold. Whether this is due to variants following the historical pattern of slowly becoming more transmissible, but less deadly as time goes by, or if this is the result of a heavily vaccinated population minimizing the impacts, remains to be learned.

Nevertheless, Covid appears to be over and we should all rejoice in the restorations of our liberties and rights, but let’s never forget the lessons learned over the past year and a half.

I have been forever changed by the Covid developments. The three big lessons learned include…

1. Our “Rights” and “Freedoms” are imaginary

It always amuses me when Canadian conservatives talk about our Constitution and our Charter of Rights and Freedoms, as though these things matter. I believe their fealty to these frameworks reside in yet another sad example of American imitation.

Canadian conservatives see American Republicans glorifying the U.S. Constitution and the Bill of Rights and they think they need to ape this glorification in a similar way. The Canadian right can be just as bad at adopting Americanisms as the Canadian left and this behaviour is especially appalling for two reasons.

Reason number one is that our Constitution and Charter of Rights and Freedoms are just cobbled together and heavily negotiated pieces of paper put together by a bunch of lawyers and bureaucrats with Pierre Trudeau at the head of the table. There is nothing romantic or especially important about our Constitution. Quebec didn’t even sign off on it. It’s just a legal framework created in 1982.

Duran Duran have been around longer than our Constitution.

Reason number two is that Covid has shown just how much of a mirage our rights and freedoms really are. When it came time for the state to assert power, we were all wearing masks and staying in our homes and not shopping at non-designated stores like sheep. Borders suddenly became impenetrable. Christian pastors were arrested. Check stops were conducted. Bylaw officers were handing out tickets for playing hockey or rolling skating on a park pathway.

Covid has shown us that our “rights” aren’t truly rights. Our “freedoms” aren’t truly freedoms. We are one bad cold and flu season away from being the Soviet Union. We know this now. We didn’t before, but we do now.

Remember that.

2. People are ridiculous

I remember watching the first Men in Black movie in the theatres and Will Smith has to decide whether or not he’s going to join the Men in Black organization. He questions the Tommy Lee Jones' character regarding the cover-up of all the aliens on Earth. Smith says, “People are smart enough that they can take this information.”

To which Jones replies, “A person is smart… people are stupid”.

That line always bothered me, but then Covid happened.

The panic buying of toilet paper was an eye-opener. It made no rational sense. Once word got out that people were hoarding toilet paper, it became a mass hysteria. We’ve all seen the pictures of people buying hundreds of rolls of toilet paper in Costco-sized plastic wraps.

Bottled water was next. Toilet paper and bottled water. In preparation for a plague that turned out to be a bad cold for most people. But even if it was a new plague, why the toilet paper? Why the fuck?

The mask debates. The ridiculous lockdowns that seemed to have no logic other than to show that the government is “doing something”. The neglect and abandonment of long-term care homes. The failure to prevent Covid via international flights. Telling people to wear masks while having sex with strangers. Black Lives Matter protests. An orgy of debt spending.

Now admittedly, many of the illogical hysterics were done by government and the people working on the public payroll, but the general public was just as enabling and even encouraging of the worst excesses of this stuff as it unfolded.

In our neighbourhood, relationships were frayed when neighbours began verbally dressing down neighbours for going for a walk instead of hiding in their house or complaining on community Facebook pages about children not following rules. I’ve heard stories about people hermitting in their homes or visiting with relatives by parking their cars together in an empty parking lot face-to-face and then calling each other on their cell phones.

Covid has shown us the worst attributes of humanity and we luckily turned the corner before things got even worse. Make no mistake, all those atrocities you read about throughout history, humanity is still that… waiting for the right conditions.

Don’t forget this.

3. Vaccines

I’m a pretty agreeable person in real life and I’m aware that people don’t usually change their minds, so when I’m around groups of people, I usually hear them out and nod along and try to find common ground. This gives them the impression that I’m down with everything they say which usually allows them to open up much more and tell you what they really, truly think. (People are usually 50% more strident in their opinions than they let on at first.)

I know people who are unthinkingly devoted to vaccines and are giddy to demonstrate their progressive bonafides by mindlessly celebrating the fact that they not only got their Covid vaccine, but they think everyone else should too. The unspoken implication being that they are good people who believe in the correct things and they are on the side of correct thinking progressivism and anyone who isn’t is stupid and beneath contempt.

I also know hardcore anti-Vaxxers that want no part of the vaccines and pick up every piece of controversial information as evidence of conspiracy, or at best some sort of collusion of interests that aren’t best for your health. They think people are being manipulated by a variety of factors and don’t trust that these so-called vaccines are safe or effective.

Here’s my story…

I took the first vaccine in late April. I got the Pfizer shot and had no real issues with it apart from a sweaty night’s sleep. A few weeks later I did a mild workout for the first time since the shot and woke up the next morning with heart palpitations and skipping beats.

I tried to think of any other variables for what could cause this, but then I started reading about the heart inflammation issues popping up throughout the world. My situation resolved after a week and I followed up with multiple ECGs and blood work before getting my second shot.

I got my second shot in early July and other than some tiredness, I haven’t had any further issues…so far.

Why did I take the shots? 

Covid is real and it can be a problem. The conspiracy theories don’t bother me, I think they are mostly bunk. The rush job on the vaccines was of some concern, but I suspect we could make faster progress regarding all sorts of treatments if the government were to cut red tape and let researchers research. The speed with which this stuff arose is a testament to humanity’s ability to get stuff done when unshackled from contrived processes.

Hopefully these shots don’t have long-term negative consequences, but the data so far seems to show that they work really well and the risks are very low. In a few years Covid will likely evolve into just another genre of Cold and Flu and we can stop worrying about it altogether.

Lesson learned? Vaccines are a miracle and the MRNA technology will likely offer a lot of advances.

Covid has been an eye-opener on many levels and as the moment passes, let’s remember not to forget the lessons learned.

What have you learned from Covid? Drop us a line and let us know.

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