With the onset of COVID, one of the things that became very clear were the two end spectrums of the scale on which i would rate humans, or at least the people i know.
On one hand were the overly cautious - depressingly isolated - it is best not to meet them in case we give them COVID - kind of people and on the other end were the- idiotic- COVID is not real- chain of people.
Most of the people i know were floundering about in the middle of these extremes, and then there were some yo-yoing from one extreme to the other like the COVID waves themselves. And beyond that is - family.
Not your immediate family with whom you are connected on a day to day basis, but relationships which make you take a leap, albeit a hesitant one, into the public space. Relationships that are not based on proximity or practicality, but invisible bonds that tie. Bonds that are often forgotten in our day to day lives, but bonds that keep you strong when you need the strength the most. People that do not talk to you for months on end, people who are not on your mind constantly, but people who occupy a special place in your heart.
These are relationships that you value irrespective of the waves, irrespective of the times we live in, irrespective of the circumstances that surround us. In simple mathematical terms, the joy of having these relationships far outweighs the disadvantages of being quarantined for the next 10 days. I sat down to count these relationships and i thought ten fingers would be enough, but they weren't.
I am lucky that I have more than ten people for whom I would risk everything, to be with them, to have them in my life no matter what and know that they feel the same about me, would do the same for me. With people isolating, and mistrust building, and opinions being forced down everyone's throat, with impatience at its peak, with ties other than the ones with immediate family cut off, with cynicism and sadism galore, i cherish my oasis of love, a big oasis of love.
And I don't know how to explain this feeling to the ones who don't feel it. You either feel it, or you don't.
COVID or not, some relationships are meant to weather the storm of time, situation and circumstance. Cherish them.
COVID or not, some relationships are bound to given in and surrender to the storm of time, situation and circumstance. Let them.