Today, the UK lifts all of its restrictions, with England no longer requiring masks for indoor spaces. While the rest of the world looks on with confusion.
I'm lucky to have grown up with several cultures and backgrounds. It means having been left out of a lot things, but it also means I've seen the world from multiple perspectives and have started my 20s with a relatively open mind.
Currently in Italy, where restrictions were some of the strictest in Europe last year, Covid-19 cases haven't been this low since the beginning of the pandemic. But still, upon my return to London, where I have residence and will start a full-time job, I will have to spend £200 on tests, and quarantine for 10 days.
It doesn't matter that Italy is on the amber list. It doesn't matter that I'm vaccinated. According to UK health, NHS vaccines are the only ones that currently count as 'being vaccinated'.
While this is happening. And while my uncle is getting married in England and my Italian family will not be allowed to attend. And while mothers have struggled for months to give birth in isolation. And while people have been neglected in nursing homes. While this is all happening, the UK government has decided that today will be the day that the pandemic ends. It doesn't matter that the UK reporter over 48,000 cases yesterday (a Sunday), which was 10,000 more than India.
The government made a call. And we all know what that means. "Brexit means Brexit," as Theresa May one said. Politicians must stick to their promises. But only when it suits them.
Meanwhile, Germany and Belgium have seen their worst floods in decades. North America and Russia are on fire. The Amazon is producing more carbon dioxide than it is absorbing.
And, conflict continues in the Middle East. Spy wear is now jeopardising journalism. And laws coming into the EU are freely allowing for muslim women to be fired for following their own religion.
The world is facing so so so many issues. It can be difficult to keep count. And it can be difficult to care about everything. It's exhausting, having to read and keep up to date on every new piece of information that comes our way. But it can also be easy to take the other road — ignore it all, and just feel like 'we only live one life, so why not be happy and forget about everything else'. That's of course, a very healthy approach to life, but when it means making other people unhappy — is it completely right?
While today is 'freedom day' according to some. It's important to remember that masks are not a political stance, or an infringement of our freedom of expression. Masks were brought in to protect others. To protect those more vulnerable than us, and protect the businesses who constantly have to close because of high infection numbers. So was social distancing. And if we continue the way we're going, we're going to reach catastrophic cases, which will only lead to more forced lockdowns.
It might be freedom day according to some, but freedom day doesn't mean forgetting that we're still living through a pandemic.