To a first approximation, hugs will never be okay again. To a second approximation, one generation from now. A whole generation has been damaged by Covid fright and Wonk Wisdom From On High. The Nomenklatura that mandated masks and magisterial shutdowns will never say they may have been wrong to ruin the livelihoods of millions or chill the beating heart of community life. They will gradually stop highlighting their rightness, will gradually stop shaking the finger and censuring the ones who will not agree with them. It will be largely an individual matter. People like you and me will make choices to hug at times, to wear masks less often, to overlook their customers who chatter in happy back-slapping groups. Civil disobedience. People like my dear aunt in her nineties will go to her grave frightened to touch the people she loves.
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