The song asks the question, “Why do fools fall in love?” The answers that will come will be as unique and vast as the number of individuals asked.
Paul and Linda Villanueva are asking, “How do people fall in love in the days of covid-19?”
The dynamic and talented duo recently wrote a song and recorded a video titled ‘Take off that Mask.”
It was not intended to make a political statement; they simply want to see peoples’ smiles again.
The couple loves to eat at several of the local restaurants and they have favorite servers. One thing they always appreciated was being greeted with a smile. That greeting, usually unspoken, now has to come with the words, “Look, I’m smiling.” They said, because of the masks, you can’t see people’s smiles anymore and they miss it. Half a person’s expression is completely hidden which got them thinking about how young people are managing to fall in love in the days of COVID-19.
There are many things working against a young couple falling in love.
School closures mean no social activities that allow people to get to know one another. Masks hid expressions and social distancing means no physical contact. Something as simple as holding hands is nearly forbidden these days.
On the spiritual or metaphysical plane, a person’s aura or energy reaches outside the body to about 6 feet. With social distancing, people cannot even share positive energy anymore. The good news is they can not share the negative either.
With so much not in their favor, how are young people falling in love?
Paul mentioned a trip to the grocery store. He was standing in line and there was a child in a cart next to him. The child was looking pretty wide-eyed at Paul and he smiled at the kid. Paul said the child got a look on his face like he was about to turn tail and run or cry. He looked terrified and Paul thought he must look pretty scary to children, especially because small children are not able to decipher subtle things like a smile in someone’s eyes.
The couple are finding that they are both much more aware of their expressions now. They overdo smiles so the smiles reach beyond their mouths to their eyes so adults can still see. They wonder, “Are young people that observant?”
When looking around they’ve noticed that people have not only stopped having conversations with each other, many are avoiding eye contact with others as well; the question grew stronger and they came to their conclusion.
Social distancing must be killing social lives.
Simple things like a gentle touch on the shoulder to reassure a friend, hugs that are such a feel good part of life and seeing people’s pearly white smiles is slowly fading. The standard 6 feet keeps us from spiritually connecting or sharing positive vibes.
So how are people connecting these days?
There are very few opportunities for a ‘date night’ with everything being closed, conversations are muffled and misunderstood without the benefit of full expression and there’s no in person school or activities to get to know one another. It would be especially difficult for a young person just moving to Mesquite to meet their peers with the complete lack of social opportunities.
What happens later when young people have no memories of childhood sweethearts. How are people able to meet their first love?
Going to the prom, watching your girl or guy play their favorite sport or perform in a production and cheering them on. So many things that we’ve taken for granted but we’re old people. These are the things we used to do to when we were in our dating stages. These are still important parts of a young adults life when learning to develop social relationships.
Young people have the benefit of social media and they have adjusted to a vastly different way of life than most of us older generations have experienced. Maybe they have already been working toward dealing with this pandemic far better than older folks. Maybe they had already found their new ways to connect before the pandemic became a bigger issue.
In any case the thoughts still plagued the couple and because they are both talented individuals, they decided to share their thoughts in a fun and entertaining way.
They are not trying to tell anyone not to wear a mask they simply want folks to not be afraid to drop it for a couple of seconds because people miss seeing your smile.
Be aware of how children are perceiving us; they are probably thinking most of us look a bit scary and children are impressionable.
And don’t let the little things be completely lost by the wayside because we are all fools who are meant to fall in love.
Karen McGuinn says
That video was adorable!
From: Karen in Chicago