I have always loved flying. The first time I set foot on a plane I was technically carried on - I was less than a year old - and I have relished being up in the air ever since.
In fact, there were numerous times in my life when I seriously considered becoming a flight attendant. I always found that the role had quite a few things in common with being a psychologist: you get to help people and do your best to make them feel at ease during the time they spend with you.
Now, at the beginning of 2021, I know for a fact that I am not the only one for whom flying has an entirely different meaning; I know it does for each and every one of you. And on this day in particular, the images of airplanes and flight attendants remind me of the day - the day on which Covid officially began, at least for me.
What is so interesting is that normally, when a great global tragedy happens, we ask: Where were you when so-and-so happened? and even though we all may have been doing different things, we at least all remember the same exact moment in time. That moment in which time itself seemingly stopped to allow for the tragedy to unfold. And that unifies and binds us in the pain and disbelief, making them easier to bear.
And there you have it, yet another reason why this Global Pandemic divides and completely disorients us - it began at different moments in time and under different circumstances for us all, and in my case, what makes it even more disorienting is the fact that the day on which it began in my life doesn't even exist this year: it was February 29th 2020.
I had landed at JFK after a long-ish flight, looking like what I had jokingly referred to as a Freddy-Krueger-revival: hat, eye glasses, and an N95. You probably won't be surprised to discover that, with the exception of literally three other people inside the packed immigration hall, I was the only one wearing a mask. Given that I stood in line for 2 hours with a crowd of other Europeans coming primarily from Italy, Switzerland and the UK, I was probably exceptionally lucky to have exited with my health intact. As were they.