The first thing that comes to mind whenever I think of the month of June, is celebrations. A lot of it, in fact. For one, June happens to be the birth-month of my mate, my first-born, two others in our family, and then several close and thus, special friends. That alone brings back for me a grand kaleidoscope of memories; with all of them conveying multi images of happy moments with loved ones. The month also cradles Father’s day, so that in all, it personally qualifies as a full sched, much like Christmastime.
Calendar-wise, the month of June is also famous for June weddings, which allude to the old (as in ancient) belief and practice of honoring the Roman goddess Juno (for whom June got its name). She was believed to be the protector of women, especially in times of marriage and motherhood. Meanwhile, for the history buffs, our country celebrates independence day in June which, especially in the days of the “old” normal, would always be celebrated with parades, mass gathering celebrations, and ho-hum outpouring of nationhood messages on mainstream media.
Then, enter the dragon COVID-19, that killjoy of a pandemic which has unceremoniously changed our world forever. Suddenly, we are all left looking back, from beyond an invisible line chalked up by the virus that has now separated us from what was once our casual lives yesterday.
More painfully still, the hundreds of thousands of lives that have been lost worldwide now seem to be nothing but macabre mementos that line Covid’s deathly trail everywhere, while some of our leaders, eager to rev up the economy for “survival of the country”, prep every able-bodied person (spreader or not) to once again go back to work and pursue that lost “normal”. At what cost?
With this as our grim background, who is to say this here month of the year 2020, with our already restrained present-day semblance of celebrations, including all the happy memories of the past Junes of earlier years, will we ever be back to normal again?
Now as we zoom, or Skype, and messenger our way through these limitations laid before us by COVID-19, the celebratory aura, as witnessed through video calls or text messaging, will still be there of course. At least, that will never change, because we are, after all, spirit beings. To physically touch however, might still be a big no-no, yet all is well.
In the end, it will always be the thought that counts, and that is virtually virus-proof. Funny enough, I am now reminded of a column a friend once wrote a long time ago. She might have been writing about the now generation in her article, but I am crediting this quote as hers just the same, however differently our context. Roughly, I think it went like this,
“finally, here we all are, all dressed up, with nowhere to go!”
Who would have thought that it has come to this? Still, happy month of June, everyone!
