It was Monday March 20th, 2020. Normally, it would be a slow day at Cinemark Movie Bistro & XD, located in the always lovely Fort Collins, CO. Yet, it was unusually slow this Monday. For it wasn’t bad movies that were keeping people from the theater, it was something new, a little something called the Coronavirus.
“It’ll kill us all!” said a coworker, as she walked past me at the podium, ready to start her shift.
I smiled, faked a laugh, then I turned around and looked at the XD auditorium. It was showing the latest Disney/Pixar movie Onward. A full-size Onward poster was located to its left, while the entry doors to the XD auditorium, marked with the letters XD, were shut as Onward played throughout the day.
At that point, I had worked at the Bistro for almost four and a half years. I had seen hundreds and hundreds of people come in and out of that theater. Some left in joy and some left in anger. Some walked out confused and wondered where to refill their large popcorns and sodas. I had entered and exited that auditorium to see movies many times myself. Yet, as I stared at the poster case, where the Onward poster stood, at the lights that flickered above it, it felt like I was in a zombie movie. It felt so apocalyptic, with so little customers and staff at the theater that day, that I thought a small group of zombies would exit the XD and eat me. They would surely have their fill as well, because the good Lord gave me a LOT of brains. 🙂
It has almost been a full year since the Coronavirus shut down the United States and the entire world as well. Of all the things that COVID has affected, the theatrical exhibition industry has taken a significant hit. Coronavirus took away the ENTIRE 2020 summer movie season, along with the Christmas and holiday movie season as well.
Some theaters reopened and closed, and then reopened again. Some movies went to streaming, some to PVOD services, and some debuted in theaters and on HBO Max, Wonder Woman 1984 being the most prominent example. Yet, because movie theaters were not and still are not opened worldwide to full capacity, Hollywood keeps pushing more and more movies back to later in 2021 and beyond. Unless things change, that pattern is likely to keep occurring.
The loss of going to the movies was especially hard for me this past year. I have always loved going to the movies, and in the time I worked at Cinemark, I went to at least 80 movies, almost weekly for at least a year. In working at Cinemark, I also got to take the bus and walk to the theater. I would walk at least two miles a day each day I worked.
Yet, when the lockdowns happened, I couldn’t go to work at Cinemark anymore. I couldn’t walk to take the bus or to see movies at Cinemark since Cinemark and so many things were closed. This meant, that for almost a year, I have walked significantly less, in part, because of the places the lockdowns have prevented me from walking to.
Being disabled, I can’t go a lot of places on my own, nor can I drive. Going to the movies was always a way for me to do something that I could do on my own, to have a place I could escape for at least two hours. Yet, when I could no longer do so, due to the Coronavirus, I had only Netflix and Disney Plus to watch movies at home. While I had memories of going to the theater for years to reminisce on, and a drive to write poems and blogs, eventually I wanted new experiences and I wanted to watch new movies. Though I love Netflix and Disney Plus, for me and those like me, its hard to want to watch those services when you’ve seen most everything that’s on them.
Don’t even get me started on the NEWS! I learned more about the Coronavirus, and mail-in ballots last year, than I ever wanted to know. Due to added anxiety and stress, I am on two additional medications now. While I know that meds are helpful and necessary, and that they have contributed to my well-being for almost 16 years now, there’s a part of me that says, “It’s not just meds. I just want things to go back to normal!”
It may not be going to the movies, or working at a movie theater, but I know that everyone who reads this, has been negatively affected by: the pandemic, 2020, and now, by 2021 also. Everyone has lost something, a job perhaps, or a vacation, maybe a hobby. Some have even lost loved ones, that they could not even have a proper funeral for.
I’m no scholar, nor am I a theologian of any kind. Yet, there is something that always gives me hope. Every day, that I wake up to see the sunrise, or look out at night, to watch the sunset from my window, I am reminded that God is in control. As long as there’s breath within me, I know that He will get me through the days, and lead me then through the nights. Though “weeping may stay for the night,” “rejoicing comes in the morning.”
Civil War? The Great Reset? The Green New Deal? The New World Order? Socialism? Whether or not we experience any of those things, or if any come to pass in our lifetime, God will not be surprised by any of them. He will always be there, waiting for us to surrender and to trust in Him.
So, with your friends, with your family, with your spouse, and with your God, let’s “press on!” Let’s forget “what is behind” and strain “towards what’s ahead!” Let’s move ONWARD!
The Adventures of A Warrior 