One of my favourite quips from 2020 was: “the unprecedented use of the word ‘unprecedented’.” Since the pandemic, I’ve heard the word crop up in relation to other things non-pandemic.
As we look forward to things returning to “normal”, we might do well to remember that unprecedented still applies. Most of us do not have a precedent for hugging our loved ones for the first time in a year and a half. Or for figuring out how to be comfortable not wearing a mask in a crowded store. Or for sorting through what we have been through – individually and collectively.
It’s possible that what we once thought of as normal will one day be normal again. For now, we would do well to remember that, for others, if not for us, the return to normal is still unprecedented.
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