The resilience of the human spirit
There’s just no escaping the harsh reality: These are terrifying, dangerous, uncertain times.
The world finds itself in a death match with an invisible enemy, COVID-19. Countries are locked down, citizens are isolated, most businesses are closed, health care systems are overwhelmed. Deaths and infections mount exponentially.
Yet into this darkness, many citizens of a world in peril have shined beacons of light, standing together in spirit even as they cannot do so physically. Their message, regardless of the language spoken: “We are united in battle. We are strong. We are human.”
Isolated from each other, they reaffirm the resiliency of the human spirit by singing and chanting and applauding from balconies,
through windows and on rooftops.
Uplifting videos have circulated on social media. They show scores of quarantined residents of Wuhan, China, the center of the coronavirus outbreak, shouting in unison “Wuhan jiayou!” roughly translated to “Stay strong, Wuhan!” or “Keep on going, Wuhan!”
In Italy, residents sheltering in place have passionately celebrated life in the face of death by singing and playing musical instruments. To further bolster spirits, the Italian Air Force performed a flyover, their jets spewing blasts of red, white and green smoke, the colors of Italy’s flag, accompanied by Luciano Pavarotti’s recording of Puccini’s classic aria, “Nessun Dorma,” whose final lyrics are “I will prevail! I will prevail! I will prevail!”
A secondary school choir in Essen, Germany, the steel-town namesake of Monessen (Essen on the Mon), videotaped their singing of the Chinese song, “Fill This World With Love,” in Chinese no less, to show solidarity with Wuhan. When the song ends, they clench their fists and shout “Jiayou,” the ubiquitous Chinese expression of encouragement and support.
Humans often are at their best when times are at their worst. The actions of so many during this pandemic continue that legacy of the awe-inspiring resiliency of the human spirit.
“It’s a silver lining to a very dark cloud,” said Paul Friday, chief of clinical psychology at UPMC Shadyside, “[These actions] show people sharing in their fear, and the joy that lifts the human spirit and does give us hope.
“The storm is not over ... but I believe that working together and looking out for others improve our individual souls.”
Our best selves
As an organizational psychologist and a professor at Carnegie Mellon University, Denise M. Rousseau has spent 45 years studying human behavior, “and it’s still impressive the extra mile people can go when they see a need. It is resilience and it’s not for an external reward; it’s something internal.
“Why do they do it when they don’t have to? That part is really fascinating,” she said. “We need to be connected with others; we are social beings. It affirms who we are.
“We recognize the survival needs for our tribe. It is existence, our need for food and shelter, physical comfort and physical safety and caring for somebody else. Growth is coming through this, feeling better and feeling more human.”
Some human behavior is motivated by reciprocity, the calculation of what individuals will reap for themselves because of their actions. But what Ms. Rousseau finds fascinating is how people are responding to the pandemic by lifting each other up for no reason other than it’s the compassionate thing to do in such uncertain times.
“What’s interesting in many of these cases is there is no reciprocity. You don’t know the other guy. It’s general reciprocity; it contributes to the common good. The key idea in that case is it’s about their sense of self, reflecting their best self. In these cases people are stepping up because they see in a crisis the value of being their best self.
“The idea of giving to the common good is part of who we are. It’s very gratifying to be our best self, but you don’t look for payback. It’s a very positive emotion. Optimism and hope come from being your best self.”
Conversely, the actions of some during this time of crisis, such as hoarding more toilet paper and other essentials than one needs with no thought of others, reveals a negative side of the human condition.
“When somebody buys more toilet paper than they need, they do it out of anxiety,” Ms. Rousseau said. “Somebody else who is more emotionally stable, they feel they’ll face that bridge when they get to it so as not to tax the system by taking more than they need.”
What has gone mostly unnoticed, she said, is “what people choose not to do. It’s an important aspect of contribution. It’s forbearance, the kids who do not go to the beach for spring break or congregate, who do not stand on the corner in a group because they know the risk. Part of the growth issue is the idea of taking time to be present to what’s happening around us.
“Will we say in the end that at this time we were at our best? I see a lot opportunity here. I’m expecting a good fallout from this. I’m expecting good for most people, of finding a way for dealing with a significant crisis.”
Being close while social distancing
The banding together to face the pandemic is not surprising to those in the social sciences, said psychologist Dacher Keltner, the founding director of the Greater Good Science Center and a professor of psychology at the University of California, Berkeley.
“I think it’s pretty clear that the way we survive is by facing different threats together,” said Mr. Keltner, whose research focuses on the biological and evolutionary origins of compassion, awe, love, beauty, power, social class and inequality. “When humans face threats, our best response is to face it with other people.
“When our minds detect a threat — ‘Oh, my God, there’s this virus’ — we reach out to other people. A virus by definition is much more shared than other kinds of crises.”
He referenced the 2009 book “A Paradise Built in Hell” in which author Rebecca Solnit looked at the social consequences of five major disasters, from the 1906 San Francisco earthquake to Hurricane Katrina. “These are not events to be wished for ... yet they bring out the best in us and provide common purpose,” a New York Times review said.
“What are our signature strengths?” Mr. Keltner said. “Part of it is language, art, culture, and the heart of that is how social we are. We are not the strongest mammal but we are the most social species.”
There is a psychological benefit to social connection, he said. In a landmark study published in 2010 in the scientific journal PLOS Medicine, Brigham Young University psychology professor Julianne Holt-Lunstad found that “the influence of social relationships on risk for mortality is comparable with well-established risk factors for mortality. That is, people with stronger social relationships had a 50% increased likelihood of survival than those with weaker social relationships.”
Mr. Keltner said he hopes for continuing positive and safe connecting, for “our better nature to come out. Often crises shake us up. I hope we use it in a way to make things kinder.”
Sharing that view is Jamie Hanson, a psychology professor at the University of Pittsburgh. “Resiliency, social support and social connectivity help us weather the storm of adversity. Social connectivity is a powerful thing. It is calming and stress reducing to know other people are going through the same things as you, are taking the same measures as you such as social distancing, are yearning for some social connection, too, and are realizing we are all in this fight together.”
Mr. Hanson said he is struck by the ingenuity to socially connect, such as virtual get-togethers using social media.
“We’re urged not to physically come together. The human spirit finds a way. We’re being socially distant, but we still need to get social support. We’ll find ways to do that with respect to the public health boundaries we need.
“I hope people keep coming together. It seems like a lot of goodwill is in the air. Let’s keep getting our hearts warmed.”