There are rules around the world, but we can still go out there again – The News Star
“Waiting for the World to Change” was playing on my car radio. I began to sing along with the smooth sounds of John Mayer and the catchy rhythm of his 2006 hit—until I realized his lyrics were echoing what I was feeling today. For the first time, I truly “heard” what he was singing:
Now we see everything that’s going wrong
With the world and those who lead it
We just feel like we don’t have the means
To rise above and beat it…..so we are waiting,
Waiting for the world to change.
How very helpless and familiar his words sounded! Here we are going into the third year of the Coronavirus, and not much has changed. We are still ranting and raving about the people and the politics of the situation while the real problem continues to fester. I don’t get it. LSU can hire and fire a football coach in that same period of time and, yet, this stupid virus is out of control, a threat to us and our economy.
Is that because we don’t really believe we can stop it? Are we waiting for someone else to do it for us? Why do we not believe the cure is indeed a cure? Does the fear of the future hold such a grasp on us that we are not seeing what we are losing today while we are waiting..waiting for the world to change.
Every therapist preaches the first step in ever taking any kind of control of a situation is believing we can actually take control. Have we forgotten we hold the pen and are able to write whatever we want on the pages of our lives? To shape, change, choose, and contribute to the road we travel is our decision. We must grab that power and not let it slip through our fingertips. Maybe if we could only love our neighbors like we love ourselves, we would not be waiting…waiting for the world to change.
Some wise man once said the best way to predict the future is to create it yourself. You know, it’s the old if- you-don’t-know-what-you-are-aiming-for-or- what-you-want-then-how-do-you- know- when- you-are-there theory coming into play. Personally, I know what I want. I am a travel agent at Monroe Travel Service, and I so miss exploring, learning, and enjoying new places. I want to be able to travel freely in our world again, and to do that, vaccinations, boosters, testing and face masks are the means to this end. Please understand, this is not a Trump or a Biden policy, it is a worldwide concensus!
Our world is sick. We are not living in a 1938 Orson Welles “War of the Worlds” radio hoax where my parents and grandparents truly thought their world was being overtaken by Martians. Doctors, nurses, and hospitals are not participating in a tv reality show. People way smarter than I could ever hope to be know the covid risk is serious–if not for us personally–but maybe for someone less able to combat the virus than us.
Since I can not make sweeping changes to Mother Earth, I figure the very least I can do is control my own life and play by the rules. It seems a very small “ask.” With the Omicron surge, new restrictions have been added to the game plan. For example, Spain, Austria, Croatia, France, Greece, Netherlands, Singapore, and Switzerland are now requiring visitors to have a booster, especially if a significant amount of time has passed since the original vaccinations. Most European countries and Great Britain are now requiring fully vaccinated travelers to present a negative PCR test taken 72 hours in advance or an antigen test taken within 24 hours to enter.
From Australia to South America, every country has been constantly changing their entry requirements for the vaccinated as well as unvaccinated. Please understand they are not difficult enough to keep you from traveling, but you definitely need to know before you go, which is why you need one of the professionals at Monroe Travel Service to help with your vacation plans. Then you can get out there and go again without waiting…waiting for the world to change .
I will not lie. Our world is one messy place right now, but if we all do our part, it can get better. I like to remember that story about the man who came upon a young boy on a beach covered with millions of starfish that had washed ashore from the night before. As the man approached the boy, he saw the boy was bending down, picking up a starfish and throwing it back into the ocean. The man looked at the boy, shook his head and said, “You cannot possibly think that you will make a difference. There are millions of starfish dying on this beach.”
The boy did not stop but threw another starfish into the ocean. Then, he looked at the man and said, “I made a difference to that one.” It is so true! We, too, have a choice: we can choose to make a difference instead of waiting…and waiting for the world to change.
Dianne Newcomer is a travel agent at Monroe Travel Service. For help with your next vacation, please call 318 323 3465 or email Info@MONROETRAVEL.com. We would love to send you away!
