NEWS4U AUGUST 2021 | OPINION
WHEN LATE NIGHT THOUGHTS ARE
BOURNE
with Freddie Bourne
COVID RECOVERY WILL TAKE TIME
happenings as if the world owes us something.
We all need to realize that just because the pandemic is
I was employed full-time as a teacher with a good salary,
receding, change isn’t going to happen overnight. But for
benefits, and paid summers off, while also making money
some reason, we seem to either forget or are simply avoiding
from Livestream performances and small gigs with a roof
the fact that we were living with more uncertainty than usual
over my head and a family that loves me. But none of that
for over 400 days. Yet, the human experience is conditioned
mattered when I allowed myself to get so upset by the
to cry, emote, and accept on a two-week timeline and get
dumbest first-world problems. Once I stopped being selfish,
back to business.
I realized something: You’re alive!
Roughly 34 million cases with 600,000 deaths and a
We made it through a time of absolute insane uncertainty.
struggling economy not to mention the toll that the
But you still have the opportunity to go after those dreams of
pandemic has taken on our mental health - and the solution
yours. You can still plan out a future. Yet, when your favorite
is to just resume the daily grind like nothing happened.
restaurant has an hour wait due to low staff, everyone must hear about this absolute travesty.
Reality check: this is a new normal. We cannot turn back to the "good ol’ days" and simply put a band-aid on it.
Even if things seem bleak, there has to be something that is giving you light. Oh, you said "no" to that statement? Think
When talk shows were closed down in New York City, hosts
harder.
and storage closets to keep us entertained. While making
I am not saying we shouldn’t put on a brave face. We should
light of the situation, they never once avoided the fact that
do everything in our power to be strong and encourage
they were sharing this confusing and often frightening
each other and ourselves. But we also should practice
COVID experience with us.
kindness, patience, sincerity, and transparency.
They were real.
We do need to keep going; we cannot dwell on it forever. But the fact that we are doing a half-ass acting exercise,
What baffles me the most throughout this is how, even
avoiding the historical impact of what occurred, is quite
with those of us that survived this historical yet distressing
inhumane. We all go through loss differently; this shouldn’t
moment, we still complain about the most mundane
be any different.
52 | AUGUST 2021
• www.evansvillemediagroup.com
PHOTO: EMILY PELSTON
and production staff turned to using iPhones, treehouses,
