A word for the concerned in trying times

I’ve never had so many itchy spots on my face. With blepharitis, which means my eyes water all the time, keeping hands-away-from-face is a major challenge – not always met. I fear. However, my hands have never been so clean, and we keep the laundry hamper busy.

As we are all keenly aware, the COVID-19 pandemic has descended upon us. Our lives have changed and may well never be the same again.

Changes come apace. Shopping for groceries at 7 a.m. is not our usual routine. However, Superstore announced that from 7 to 8 a.m. the store would be open, fully disinfected, for seniors and the disabled. It was a good experience. No parking problems and a very manageable number of shoppers. We got everything we needed – including ample toilet paper. Our deep appreciation to Superstore, and all the others who are reaching far beyond their usual service to make life possible for many of us.

The grocery store’s action is symbolic of what is happening all over. Corporations and businesses are setting aside the profit motive and reaching out in a massive humanitarian effort to provide their service as best they can for the good of the community, country and world. Unfortunately for many, this means closing working from home, and doing what is necessary to slow the virus. Throughout the world the common focus is on dealing with this strange situation in which we find ourselves.

We live in an assisted-living apartment. On the door there is a big sign that says, “Nobody allowed to enter except Residents, Staff and Care Workers.” Great care is taken by the management and staff to keep us safe from the virus and provide what help we need. “Care workers” applies to the many front-line people who provide us with care and safety: first responders, all those in health care, police, firefighters. We owe all a great debt of gratitude.

Here we are with cheap gas and nowhere to go. The economic implications are dire. Any thought of a quick return to “normal” is a distant fantasy. The government is stepping in and making financial survival possible for many. But the long-term outlook is very murky. It could take decades to establish a self-sustaining social order.

What will the future look like? We don’t know, but it will be different from what it was. Most of us have experienced some major event in our lives that has changed us. Traumatic experiences do that. Now we are having a traumatic experience that is happening to us and to most everyone else in the world. It is a trauma common to all. Not only are our outward circumstances being radically changed, our inner beings, our psyches, are also being changed. We are newly aware of our vulnerability and are prepared to go to great lengths to protect ourselves and one another. We have a new sense of our human oneness. We are all in this together. All told, we cannot come out of this crisis quite the same people as when we entered.

What shape that will take is in the mystery. We are notoriously slow learners. Surely such a major universal experience will shake us deeply enough to evoke our creativity. The economic dislocation may well be enough to force us to establish a new social order. Perhaps the vision of Bernie Sanders could be brought into some sort of reality.

Another aspect of the crisis is the health of our planet. Surely the Earth is breathing a huge sigh of relief as pollution diminishes and climate change eases. The virus may be saving the planet. Our awakened sense of being all in it together may jar us into taking action needed for our survival.

And if we fail to establish a more just and caring social order this upheaval may be a trial run for changes in lifestyle that will be forced on us by the warming of the planet.

This is a moment charged with upheaval and possibility. May we rise to the occasion.

I must go and wash my hands.