We are living in strange times, I think that is undeniable. For several months now the world is evolving around a virus that has effected everyone in one way or another.

I for one, simply cannot get used (and am absolutely fed up) to people walking around wearing masks and living in a fear that has been induced to a great part of the worlds population by politicians, supported by the main stream media.

Please note, that I am no expert, not a doctor, a virologist or immunologist.  I am also not a conspiracy theorist. I am someone though, with the ability to think for myself and ask questions, questions that are percieved by many as uncomfortable, or as attention seeking, or downright impotlite and uncalled for. I do have this strange urge to understand things and if that is seen as rude and uncomfortable or even dangerous, than I suppose that is what I am.

I am simply not willing to give up some of my freedom, live with restrictions that cannot be explained to me logically and stay silent. I am not even speaking about the worldwide economical damage that has been caused (which is undeniably tremendous), I am so much more worried about the incredible social damage that can not yet be foreseen.

 

 

I am in no way smarter than others but perhaps  my curiosity (that has more than once caused me trouble) is insatiable and makes me ask, trying to understand.

I have lost one or the other acquaintance over this (thankfully not friends), being accused of trying to missionize, being agressive, not caring about others and having changed etc. I am not trying to convince anyone of anything, I am trying only to share my own very personal point of view and perhaps shed a slightly different light on the times we are living in.

I am always a great friend of examples and I have made some wonderful  and some horrific experiences in the past months since this virus has a grip on us. I have been accused of not believing in this virus – that is simply rubbish. Of course COVID-19 is not a question of belief – it is out there and we will have to live with it now and in future, but I do believe it is being blown completely out of proportion (if proven wrong in a couple of years, I will be the first to apologize but until then…). I am getting the impression that a lot of people believe that with the measures such as wearing masks and social distancing we will eradicate this virus. I understood the measures, that they were to slow down the infection rate to not overwhelm the health systems, which it has done in the beginning and now we know more and we know better (or should). We are being imprisoned with masks. But I am drifting off a bit. I wanted to speak about the social disaster that this is causing, with no end in sight!.

 

 

 

 

I work as a coach and I have done quite a bit of pro bono work to support people and couples through these challenging times. I have been confronted with desparation due to the loss of the job. When you do not know how to properly support your family or even just yourself is devastating. I have been confronted with couples separating, abuse and worse (I suppose the big winners will be divorce lawyers and psycologists).

It is seen worldwide that the suicide rate has gone up significantly and I have heard people say that this is not true. When I asked why, I received answers like, “Well, I don’t know anyone that has committed suicide.” This is a great example of the unbelievable ignorance out there – and it is not bliss.

In my personal opinion,  the biggst losers though will be our children, children that are growing up in a culture of fear and terror. Here just a few examples of what I have personally experienced in the past few months.

I was running by the lake and and was running towards a man and his (I am bad at guessing) probably 4-5 year old boy. When the boy saw me approach, he panicked, pulled his jumper over mouth and nose and shouted: “Dad, I don’t want to get sick, I don’t want to die.” Instead of comforting his child the man grabbed his son into his arms and ran past me as if I were a leper with the pest, cholera and worse. A child probably traumatized for life…

Another lovely example: I came out of a supermarket and I always take the hiddeous mask off when I have stepped one foot out of there. On one occasion a woman started sceaming at me from a distance that I have to put my mask back on, which I of course declined with a smile. Her reaction was to call me a murderer that doesn’t care about the lives of others. Children could hear that hysterical woman (and she was about 40) screaming at me calling me a murderer. What has this world come to?

The worst example though happended only a few days ago and I was in shock. I overheard a conversation that actually made me write this in the first place. A mother and her (guessing again) 3-4 year old daughter were sitting on a bench next to me and the girl wanted to know from her mother when they could go and visit her grandmother and grandfather, she missed them so much. The deeply shocking reply from the mother was: “We cannot see them or they will die.” I just wanted to cry. How can a mother terrorise her own child like this? Essentially she was calling her daughter a potential killer.

These are just a few things I have encountered in the past months and I don’t even live in a big city but in a small village in Bavaria, Germany with ca. 4.500 inhabitants. I have seen people policing and denunciating their neighbors and anyone they feel the need to put in the “right” place again. I am beginning to get an inkling what Germany must have been like between 1933-1945 and this terrifies me. People are following a propaganda that has been imposed on them without thinking for themselves or questioning anything anymore. “The government knows what it is doing and has only our best interest in mind”, is what I often hear and I dare to question this…

I would like to quote a doctor I heard say this (I am bad with names, so I don’t remember his and really do not want to take credit for it): “The introduction of compulsory masks after months of COVID-19 is like putting on a condom on your son’s first birthday.”