011: A New Spice
"How do you take all of this," she gestured to the world at large, "this madness?"
I stared at her. "What do you mean?"
"I grew up behind closed borders. It's not new to me. But you grew up in an open world—you've been able to go wherever you want whenever you want."
I turned away.
"How does it make you feel?"
"I'm furious." I swallowed a lump in my throat. "When you grew up, you didn't know what kind of places and what kind of people were beyond your borders. You had no emotional attachments out there. Sure, you dreamed. But that was it. We—my generation—we know what's out there. We have painfully real attachments. Places we miss, activities we miss, people we miss. To be closed in and trapped like this, to be in danger of losing those attachments because seeing places in photos, doing activities alone in our rooms, and talking to people through the screen or in text isn't the same as being on that beach or walking through those streets, as being surrounded by other people who enjoy those activities, as hugging someone and going to a café or a restaurant with them. We're trapped and isolated. Our emotional attachments are weakened. And it makes me absolutely furious, but what can I do, aside from spelling it out here? It's for the greater good. To preserve the physical health of the already-ill and the weak.
"But what about their mental health? What about our mental health? How well are any of us doing, locked up alone and fed fear with our dinner by the media every single day? Have we eaten so much fear that we're too paralysed to see what's happening around us?"
Written by: Katrine H.
I stared at her. "What do you mean?"
"I grew up behind closed borders. It's not new to me. But you grew up in an open world—you've been able to go wherever you want whenever you want."
I turned away.
"How does it make you feel?"
"I'm furious." I swallowed a lump in my throat. "When you grew up, you didn't know what kind of places and what kind of people were beyond your borders. You had no emotional attachments out there. Sure, you dreamed. But that was it. We—my generation—we know what's out there. We have painfully real attachments. Places we miss, activities we miss, people we miss. To be closed in and trapped like this, to be in danger of losing those attachments because seeing places in photos, doing activities alone in our rooms, and talking to people through the screen or in text isn't the same as being on that beach or walking through those streets, as being surrounded by other people who enjoy those activities, as hugging someone and going to a café or a restaurant with them. We're trapped and isolated. Our emotional attachments are weakened. And it makes me absolutely furious, but what can I do, aside from spelling it out here? It's for the greater good. To preserve the physical health of the already-ill and the weak.
"But what about their mental health? What about our mental health? How well are any of us doing, locked up alone and fed fear with our dinner by the media every single day? Have we eaten so much fear that we're too paralysed to see what's happening around us?"
Written by: Katrine H.
Comments
Post a Comment