The unpredictable

Quarantine is a new idea for many of us. We did not grow up during the diphtheria quarantines of the 1920s. Many of us barely remember when polio was a dire threat, so having both a quarantine and a disease that we cannot vaccinate against is new and novel and probably unsettling in ways we haven't even completely thought about.

Long periods of isolation are not as bad as they once were due to phones, computers, internets and social apps like Facebook, but they still allow time for us to notice the difference and I'm sure it makes a difference.

In regular times I socialized because it was the thing to do, because I could, because I liked to write about it, because I wanted to stave off the isolation of old age I had seen creep up on older relatives.

Everyone has their own reasons for going out into the world or mingling with other people.

For some mad socializing is a way to avoid being alone with your feelings. For others it is a way to serve. It can be a way to make money. It can be anything, but whatever it is, the lack of it affects us differently and even those of us who feel they almost enjoy it find ourselves feeling the difference about now.

We are not stars isolated in deep space, burning brightly for eons in our natural state. We are people, created because two other people got together in some way, generally dependent on other people for some form of food or protection in a world that works best when all the cogs move in some kind of order.

Right now that order is pretty much unknown and unpredictable.