“Behind the shelter in the middle of a roundabout
A pretty nurse is selling poppies from a tray
And though she feels as if she’s in a play
She is anyway
In Penny Lane the barber shaves another customer
We see the banker sitting, waiting for a trim
And then the fireman rushes in
From the pouring rain
Very strange”
–Lennon and McCartney, from “Penny Lane”
…………………………………..
Life is very much a play, socially, anyway. We all give performances (something I talk about in the previous Hamlet magazine blog entry), but when we are socially isolating, that all stops and many people have ended up feeling lost, not surprisingly, not knowing what to do (the classic unstructured situation from psychology); our usual, conventional life flow mode on hold. Most/many people depend on their jobs and ‘roles’ to define themselves and give purpose to their lives.
The only ones still acting out there are the health care folks, delivery guys, workers in grocery stores, media types, and politicians at news conferences. With the exception of Trump’s continuing false roles, all of these roles are authentic and socially helpful.