August Wallpaper of the Month

Here we are in August, hardly better, if not worse, than July left us. We spent the spring and summer floundering in an uncertain, unfamiliar world as we stare at the face of Fall and another set of unique hardship. This month’s wallpaper is a devastating depiction of the lives of children as we reopen schools. Still expected to learn, while separated from their innate instinct to connect, play, touch, and feel the world around them. They are confused, scared and disappointed by the failure of the adults whose one job is to protect them. What do you think it would be like to be a child in 2020?

I think a lot about what it must be like to be a child spending their formative years in a pandemic. My generation was defined by technology, growing up alongside the internet, a luxury that supplemented our real, interconnected lives. Children today have it the other way, where their interconnected lives of education and play are dependent on their internet connection, with the occasional luxury of a real-life playdate. This depresses the fuck out of me, and makes me concerned for the psychological development if this upcoming generation. I fear they will be traumatized by the paranoia that everything they touch could be deadly, and lacking the critical social skills to develop into healthy adults. If America can’t get our act together for our children, I’m afraid we can’t for anyone. We are failing. We are failing them, their futures, and the world they will inherit.

As we enter another month of “It’s not safe, but let’s do it anyway,” let’s pause before we “do it anyway.” Our individual actions of proactive common sense is what can make this moment in time just that, a moment. Not another month, not another minute. Wear your fucking masks, and I’ll see you here soon with another post.