The Common Thread

The word PARANOIA shouldn't used lightly.
I mean, it's a psychological term and some people are ACTUALLY paranoid.
I could analyze it here, give you a low-down for what it's like to be paranoid; MY version of it,
BUT what I feel in paranoia these days is society's collective relationship to it. 
Omicron has brought with it a certain panic in the air, a real anxious paranoia. An amplified version of the initial pandemic panic mixed in with some reckless 'I'm over it' Covid fatigue.

Whether one is vaxxed, boosted, or fiercely neither - everyone seems to have something to be paranoid about. If it's not the fear from catching the actual virus, or fear over a loved one catching it... it's being paranoid about your 'freedom' being taken away (newsflash - it never really existed to begin with if you are a member of society, and any society will take some of your perceived freedom for the sake of the whole.) or whatever conspiracy you cooked up in your mind because, duh, PARANOIA. 

So in an optimistic fashion - paranoia truly connects us all. The right, the left, the middle grounds, the vaxxed, the science bros, the Q anon nuts, the conspiracy freaks. Everyone has some dose of paranoia and if we step out of our own little world for just a little bit - it is as clear as day. Paranoia is the great uniter, despite the mask of divider Covid presents us all with. Paranoia is the common thread, intertwined through all fabrics in our society.