Source: Tom Werner / Getty
This has been traumatizing. We as a nation are undergoing trauma we aren’t even aware of yet, because right now, we can’t afford to admit it. If we face it, we will crumble. It’s as if we are in a war. We are seeing terrible things. We are witnesses to unspeakable tragedy. But we know there is so much more to come and so much more that we have to get through so we actually cannot afford to face our emotions. Doing so would prevent us from getting up in the morning and doing the things we must do to get through this thing. So, we’ve gone numb.
For those of you who are fans of “The Walking Dead” or even those who know of the show may appreciate the moment the meaning behind name of the show gets revealed. Many assume the name pertains to the corpses that have risen as zombies, but that’s not so. One of the characters talks of being a veteran—of being in war and watching people he loved die around him and having to shut off his feelings so he could continue to function on a basic, robotic level and survive. He went dead inside to survive. He was the walking dead.
We might feel like the walking dead ourselves right now. And when we come out of this, and face how our emotions have been impacted, we may realize there are some things we’ll never fully feel safe doing again—industries we may fear to support and engage in, out of fear for our lives. We’ve already seen these industries get hit hard during the pandemic, and it’s possible they’ll be impacted for a long time after. Experts say our economy may be hit worse than it was during the Great Depression.
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Casinos
Think of the nature of a casino. Thousands of people shoulder to shoulder at tables. The air is recycled. Your complementary cocktail glass clinking with that of strangers over a win. And the things we touch that so many others do—slot machines and dice and cards. Even diehard gamblers may move their activity online.
