Dear Editor,

These are very strange times indeed, we can all agree.

But notice how we humans, whom sociologists have termed social animals, have now become solitaries — with physical or social distancing having become the obligatory mode of interaction between us.

Recall how at one time we distrusted people who wore face masks — bank robbers, burglars, burka-wearers, pesticide sprayers, security forces, etc – but now, ironically, we too are now adorned with all kinds of strange-looking drapes over our faces. These disguises include bandanas, handkerchiefs, even banana leaves. They come in various colours, patterns, and sizes; all which now hide our identity.

All this new social apartheid system is due to one invisible bug — the 2019 novel coronavirus, which is many thousand times smaller than the diameter of a strand of our hair. This microbe, this parasite that gets its life from our cells, has made us frightened of being in close contact with one another.

Everywhere, these days, it seems that aliens have invaded the Earth; we are those aliens, both to ourselves and to others.

So when will we become social beings again?

Well, for the foreseeable future, we have to endure our dubious evolutionary and social descent.

George S Garwood

merleneg@yahoo.com