By Howard Feldman, Head of Marketing & People at Synthesis
I am a rebel. Finally. After 53 boring years, I have now become a lawbreaker. And it makes me feel alive. Until it kills me. And then it won’t. Obviously. As although I am now triple vaccinated, once had Covid, I find myself on the wrong side of the law by choosing not wearing a mask when I am told that legally I am obliged to do so.
Truth be told, it does make me feel wicked and naughty and like one of the cool kids, which I’m really not and have never really been. But I now know what it must be like for those who skate on thin ice, those who sail close to the wind and those who live on the edge. Now I finally get what it means to feel the adrenaline surge through your system and the euphoria of having gotten away with the impossible.
Now I know what it feels like not to pay your TV license. And not even get an sms. Better still, now I finally understand the unfathomable courage of those who flagrantly delete the messages warning of impending prosecution when that license is not paid. And the bravery of those fighters on the front lines of law breakers who don’t make that payment, even in the face of the by-line that it is “the right thing to do.”
In a sense, I am becoming a freedom fighter. For my face. But each man has their cause. And might well have found mine.
It’s not a midlife crisis. I don’t think. This time I am serious. For now, in any event. It’s a fight for our faces. And I stand bravely on the front lines. Admittedly, I should have attended to the Botox before ripping off my mask, but not doing so is testimony to my commitment. In a sense I am the Zelensky of faces. With the caveat that I am unable to wear that fatigues-green colour he chooses, as it makes me look like I have Typhoid. In which case, I would probably want to put the mask straight back on.
As proactive and as on point as government has been with regard to the handling of the Covid pandemic until now, there is a clear sense that they have run out of steam and lost interest somewhere back in January. There is a sense that they have accepted that it’s all over, but have forgotten to tell us that we can start to live our lives again. So much so that I can picture them, lying on a beach somewhere on a well deserved holiday saying to each other: “I know I have forgotten to do something, I just wish I could remember what it was.”
Around the world regulations have changed. Ours, unfortunately, are a step behind. With below 800 new cases in the country on some days, it is time for laws to change in line with the rest of the world. Not doing so, will have no impact on the law adherence, but serve only to give the most boring amongst us a tantalizing taste for law breaking.