Everyone is angry.

At each other.

At the local government.

At the federal government.

At the media.

At their friends.

At their own family members.

At the world, really, and its inability to sit up straight and behave in a manner that behooves us all.

Because that's impossible right now.

We're all so far apart when it comes to where we stand on

mask-wearing,

in-person learning,

distancing measures,

getting vaccinated,

going indoors,

having birthday parties,

etc.

We're all divided on what's "right" and what choices are and/or should be within our individual rights to make.

There is nothing more exhausting and disheartening than having to live through a lingering and worsening pandemic than to having to do so while feeling disconnected from those you come across.

Nothing is worse than having to take on a group project with collaborators when no one can work cohesively together.

America is failing right now when it comes to our role in helping to eradicate coronavirus.

And my state, Florida, not only is it not putting in the hardcore effort, it didn't even show up to class. It's blindly coasting with its laissez-faire attitude and hoping that it'll all just "figure itself out."

Except it won't.

Because it can't.

And for us to all get back to the "normal," we

know,

love,

and miss so very dearly, we've got to show up and put up.

Put up a fight for those in hospital beds right now.

Put up a fight for the doctors and nurses and medical staff who are tirelessly tending to those in our overwhelmed medical facilities.

Put up a fight for the young kids who are facing an unfair, no-pity-taking opponent.

Put up a fight for the teachers fighting to keep schools open and safe because they know that's where children learn best.

Put up a fight for a return to "the good ole days" that CAN be, once again, if we can just get past this daunting hump of surging delta cases.

Listen, I know that many of you don't agree with me.

Some of you know me, and like me, or at least you used to, but you do not like what I have to say about how I think we survive this pandemic, and for that, I can't say I'm sorry because I'm only pushing what I believe to be correct.

And it's not lost on me that you, as odd as the thinking seems to me, are just doing the same.

So at least we can agree that we are both impassioned by what's going on right now. On that, we align.

And since how we fix the problem is where we find that we are disjoined, I think the only way to reposition ourselves on the same team is to remember what is forever most important, and that's ALL human life.

And a little bit of both of us,

martyring ourselves just a tad,

compromising on things we feel pretty rigid about,

and just trusting that other than this fast-spreading delta variant, no Big Bad Wolf is trying to take our lives and freedoms from us,

can save a life.

WE, TOGETHER, can BE the Big Bad Wolf and take out coronavirus if we just stop

huffing
and
puffing
and taking each other down.

The story of the three little pigs teaches us that hard work pays off and though I know how freakin’ hard it is to find middle ground when it feels like you’re not even on the same road, but my God, what other choice do we have.