Grand Re-Opening

It will happen.
The Cubs won the World Series.
Anything can happen.
Maybe not this year because there is still no word about exactly how sports will emerge on the other side of this mess. Recently, MGM resorts in Las Vegas offered to host the NBA season within the confines of their facilities. Players, coaches, families. Fans? Not so much. That would put a cap on what will long be remembered as the most peculiar basketball season on record. College basketball players would probably disagree, since their season ended in a puff of smoke rather than a grand tournament of champions.
Meanwhile, back on main street, shop owners are pondering how best to come back out of hibernation. What will it be like when doors that have been shut for so long spring open again? A mad rush to stand six feet apart while shopping for books and candles? Curbside delivery for the local furniture store? How will we emerge from this extended and deadly game of Cooties?
Evidence suggests that we are not good listeners. Most of the places that have re-opened have seen spikes in confirmed new cases of COVID-19. This would be the learning curve, the one that will be measured in lives lost.
Then again, it seems just as likely that this will be a chance for us all to practice the social part of distancing. After months of looking at empty store shelves, maybe we won't take toilet paper for granted anymore. It could be that we have all spent this time in our cocoons learning to be better humans. This could be evolutionary.
And with each new step we take in the brave new world, we need to remind ourselves of the tens of thousands who died while we were trying to piece together our response. Every doctor, nurse, EMT, paramedic, firefighter, police officer, delivery person, and son who shared his Disney Plus password should be raised high and acknowledged for the battle they helped wage.
Because we have to be better after all of this.
Don't we?
We were all sent to our rooms for two months to think about the way we have been acting, and I hope that we are collectively ready to be held accountable for our actions. As the poet from Akron, Ohio wrote, "It's time to go forward, move ahead, and give the past a slip."
Let's be careful out there.