Commentary
Traumatic times in human experience are often best understood, across cultures, through the sharing of stories. I have a few personal stories from the COVID restrictions. As a mother, daughter, and human, they illustrate to me that something is deeply wrong.
First, I was furious that the daycare centers, playgrounds, and local libraries were ordered to close. I stood in the park, looking at the roped-off swing that my one-year-old daughter loved, and felt outrage in my veins. In the name of what was this taken away from my children? I have dutifully paid taxes for years to maintain these public services. I was exasperated that the lockdowns were so easily accepted in the West, which did not help the Global South at all. In the South, people tend to look to the West to do the right thing, as it is often not as easy for them to protest against governmental orders….