During this season I would usually be writing about Christmas related media, discussing a recently released film, or ruminating on the current state of media distribution (i.e. theaters, streaming, etc.), but the Coronavirus seems to have changed all of that. Saying that the persistence of this global pandemic has upended most of our lives and left us all in a state of depression and doubt about the future would be an understatement at this point. Thanksgiving is coming this week, which is why I'm here to beg my fellow human beings to please try and skip the large gatherings this year.

Many people, despite the rise of a deadly virus, are still wanting to travel and get together in large groups to celebrate the holidays. While I understand the need for a sense of togetherness, especially this year, I feel that sacrificing one Thanksgiving is a small price to pay to prevent others from catching a life threatening disease and reducing the spread. To many that is a reasonable task; to others they just can't sacrifice one little thing in order to help others.

Watching this pandemic unfold over the last few months has really put a strain on my overall faith in humanity. We have politicians and presidents who not only do little to nothing to help during this crisis, but also push dangerous conspiracy theories and actively try to undermine the work of scientists and doctors trying to fight the virus (anti-maskers and the "Reopen" protests). It saddens me to watch millions of people (mostly my fellow Americans) act like stupid and spoiled children when it comes to attempts to control the spread of the virus. My anger doubles when I remember that it's these people who've kept the virus spreading over these months and why people, like me, have to risk their health for them.

As an employee working in a movie theater during this crisis I've come across several anti-maskers and rude people who are fed up with these Coronavirus restrictions. It takes a lot of self control to keep me from reminding them that their inability to do the bare minimum to control this virus (wear a mask, wash your hands, stay six feet apart) is why we're still having to do this and why over 200,000 people are now dead. I swear if World War II happened today we would see people protesting food rationing and proudly declare that they aren't donating scrap metal.

I write this in the hope that some may read it and take it to heart. I hope I can prevent just a few people from getting sick and possibly dying during this holiday season. I know this year has been hard on us all, but we just have to stick it out a little bit longer until the vaccines come next year. I know it has been hard trying to convince people to do what is necessary to save lives and it almost seems futile to keep doing it, but please have the strength to sacrifice one Thanksgiving now so you won't have to sacrifice more in the future.