Who will we be?

What will it be like when we're given the all clear to return to our usual lives?

Will we be the same people we were before this began or somehow changed?

For those of us who could work at home, how willing will we be to return to our tightly packed office cubicles now we know that we can do our jobs away from the office?

After seeing how effective working remotely was, how many companies will re-think the way they do business? An exec we know from a company with several hundred employees has told us that the decision has already been made to issue every new hire a laptop and the tools needed to work at home.

Or, will we be so tired of Zoom meetings and conference calls that we'll be happy to get back to the daily grind?

How will those, who have been somehow been personally impacted by the virus or took seriously the advice of medical experts, deal with that co-worker, who will loudly insist that it was "just the flu" and "not that many people died"?

Will we be willing to stand shoulder to shoulder in TSA lines at airports? Might we even be tempted to buy the seat next to us on the plane so no one will sit there?

How comfortable will we be eating at our favorite table at our favorite restaurant just inches away from the people next to us?

How quick will we be to call our primary care provider if that ache or pain; cough or sniffle that a few months ago we would have ignored doesn't go away in a few days?

The virus has brought out the best and worst in us.

Will we continue to care about our neighbors, who we never really knew before, or go back to our own little worlds?

Will we remember to thank the people, who as every day heroes, remained on the job in hospitals, nursing homes, grocery stories, pharmacies and police and fire stations?  Or will we still be mean spirited towards the people checking out our groceries, stocking the shelves at the pharmacy, or bringing our take out to our cars?

Our daughter, who manages a restaurant that has stayed open because of its well established take out business, tells us she can't believe how angry people are when picking up their orders.

Will we continue to support non-profits that provided food to families or churches that scurried to have on line services?

Or, will we still put ourselves first by the hoarding basic necessities like toilet paper, paper towels, cleaning products, bottled water and other items?

The morning after the President suggested we wear masks when going out -- although inexplicably he said he wouldn't  -- I went to several pharmacies and hardware stores looking for some. My quest was greeted with the same answer everywhere: "we were wiped out weeks ago."

So, why was it that in trips to the grocery store or to get take out, I hardly saw a soul wearing one? Whose shelves have they been sitting on "just in case?"  Even now, why don't we see more people wearing them? Especially seniors??

Will we be like a small, but vocal minority of Catholics who have put themselves first by demanding that public Masses be celebrated so they can receive Communion, thereby putting celebrants at risk? (Somehow I don't think that's what Jesus would do.)

With our hair at the length it was in college and it's color now natural, will we decide that there's no need to spend all that money at the barber shop or salon for fancy cuts and dyes? We look just fine.

Will family movie and game nights continue?

Will we still remember to say our prayers or become too busy again?

Who will we be?