Heard It Through the Gripe-Vine: Our New Abnormal Philip Cu Unjieng If ever we wondered how those lines in the Christmas carol ‘O Holy Night’ could be relevant in our times, I would think the year that has passed has given us enough food for thought to now take these lyrics to heart: “A thrill of Hope, the weary world rejoices, For yonder breaks a new and glorious morn...” Finally, we can put the Year 2020 behind us, and we place our beleaguered faith in the strident hope that brighter days, and the global pipeline of COVID-vaccines, are in the months ahead. In a normal kind of year, we’d be talking about New Year’s resolutions, thinking polka dots, round fruits and coins, and making the children jump as high as they can at midnight. We’d be leaving doors open, even cupboards, windows, and cabinets – all in the hope of inviting and letting prosperity in. We even stuff our wallets in the belief that it becomes a year-long habit. In short, we do a lot of irrational and unconnected things in the name of positivity. But this has been a very unusual year; a year when “Positive” became a bad thing, something we all were trying to avoid. “Being Positive.” was the dreaded phrase of 2020; and instead, we were all striving to “stay negative” If we’re thinking polka dots, we better make sure there are no spiked proteins attached to them - stay far away from those types of dots & circles. Yes, coins are round and favored during the New Year, but contactless transactions are the way of the future - so Goodbye, coins. My New Year’s Resolution, one that should be adopted nationally, is that we should always wear our face mask and face shield properly and diligently when in public. I got strong reactions to my column two Sundays ago; when I mentioned how crazy it was that whenever I’d step out of my condo and head to the malls or restaurants, I’d see so many people with masks under their chins, and shields on the top of their heads. So many texted and commented about how they encountered this as well, and it was so frustrating. Here we are, a good segment of the population, taking the safety protocols seriously and following them diligently, and our collective futures are jeopardized by the minority “pasaways” who stay on the side of complying, but do so in a potentially dangerous, lackadaisical manner. I fully understand how nine months and counting can lead to Safety Protocol fatigue; but this one is just plain stupid. It’s not like you left them at home, you have them on your bodies, but you won’t wear them properly? Do you think tempting fate is daring, brave, or thrilling? We read about how someone like a President Macron of France can come down with COVID in December. Here’s someone who, you’d think, would have been cautious and taking precautions; and yet somehow, he ends up Positive. He blames it on a “moment of negligence and bad luck.” but the big takeaway here is how we can never let our guard down. Let’s face it, the vaccines are not coming anytime soon – as least not in mass quantities that can create herd immunity in our country. So until that time, if ever there was a group of people in need of a renewed hug and a resounding Thank You, it’s the medical community. They truly are the “weary world” of the last year. I’m not ignoring the fact that so much has already been said about our doctors and nurses in the first months of the pandemic; but as the virus still living with us, became more of a routine, a given in our day-to-day existence, it’s become easy to forget how tirelessly these medical people continue to work, and act as our first defense against the virus. When and if these vaccines begin to trickle into our country; I hope we’ll have the foresight to prioritize these true front-liners over the politicians. But between you and me, I won’t be holding my breath waiting for that to become our reality. Besides welcoming the New Year, we also officially welcome the micro-generation of “Coronials.” It’s now 40 weeks since that weird week when the WHO officially called it a global pandemic, the NBA abruptly called an end to its regular 2020 season, and Tom Hanks announced from Australia that he had contracted the virus. So moving forward, the births that occur from the 3rd week of December, 2020, were all conceived under quarantine conditions. People joked back then about the potential for this mini-baby boom given the stay-at-home conditions, while some commentators made mention of what kind of world would we be bringing these children into, and how responsible was that. It’s still early days to say if there’s a decisive surge in “coronial” births, but it has begun. More than the parents and what were they thinking, I’m wondering about this new generation of Coronials or Pandemi-Kids. Will they be weak on face recognition, and rely more on voice or smell to identify the people around them? Will they think shaking hands or making “beso-beso” are old, antiquated customs that you only read about? How many times in a day will they be washing their hands, and will their skin prematurely age and get dry thanks to all the alcohol-based products used on them? And as they get older and exhibit unique traits and idiosyncrasies, will we chalk it up to their Coronial Mentality! Just wondering... Happy New Year!