Insulation Needed

"The world is, the world is

Love and life are deep

Maybe as his skies are wide." 

So says Canadian supergroup Rush in describing their modern-day warrior "Tom Sawyer". To me, the world is energizing to be a part of and also, a place to insulate yourself from, as Tom seemed to do. People and their problems can be exhausting particularly when you just want to sit in the sun and feel it warm your skin--throw in a line. And yet, why are we here if not for each other? 

Recently, I'm not so sure we are here for that reason. Politically we probably have never been farther apart and that trickles down into real life when how we conduct ourselves as a nation is challenged between those who think their freedom is to be a contrarian and the answer to every question. Whereas, those of us who think freedom is also choosing to stand by our fellow humans and do things like vaccinate to keep them healthier or even alive. In any case there certainly is a survivalist pall that seems to have washed over a lot of people of this country.

All I know is I need some insulation from it. So pervasive is this epidemic of "my freedoms" that there is hardly a day that goes by when "my freedom" sets us back either through more people dying because they were pitiably misinformed or just jackass stubborn or some legalistic decision that makes it harder to enforce health policy that keeps people alive. These modern-day warriors are fighting an invisible enemy that wants them dead and they don't think that the many millions of us who are vaccinated are proof that there is another way.

When logic and scientific proof fails, what are we to make of it? Do we become so insular that these lives stop mattering to us? Do we continue to try to sway them to our side, even when it feels like beating our communal heads against the wall? Or perhaps, we take a mental health break from the news of the world, unplug ourselves from the magic box that mostly saddens us when we dip from its fountain. Perhaps we wrap ourselves in the cocoon of family or friends and weather this thing a while longer and let the chips fall where they may. After all:

"What you say about his company

Is what you say about society

Catch the mist, catch the myth

Catch the mystery, catch the drift..."