Earlier this week we saw the UK Prime minister was admitted to ICU in a London hospital after he contracted the corona virus. Earlier on we had heard that Prince Charles also had it. I haven’t heard much about Prince Charles since then, so I hope that means He has recovered. I certainly pray that Boris Johnson recovers as soon as possible and get on with leading his country through this pandemic. At such times of global crisis, we need all the (good) leadership we can get.
Clearly this virus is no respecter of persons. Money or influence and social status cannot shield us from contracting it. It’s the unseen enemy that cannot be kept away by high walls, top security or fat bank accounts. COVID19 has become the equalizer. Both the folks at the top and bottom of the pyramid in society all have survival as their basic need right now. The social class bubble has burst thanks to corona virus.
The only bubble that I was waiting to burst for a long time was the property market bubble. Analysts predicted for a long time that due to the oversupply of houses (especially targeting the middle class) prices would drop sharply. Part of that prophecy has come true now because there are many completed homes with no one to buy them. The lack of affordable mortgages and credit has contributed to the housing glut also. The future of profitable housing projects is in low cost houses where most of our people reside in. That’s the analysis from expert Lucas he he.
This pandemic has levelled the playing field of life in many ways. It has shed off the blinkers through which we see life and laid bare what really matters in life. It has also emphasized that not much matters in life. We have been accused to be a society that worships money and that most of us can do almost anything for cash. Now the importance of cash has reduced drastically. Apart from affording to fill trolleys when panic buying, it can’t buy us freedom to socialize or insure us from this deadly virus. Leading nations in the world who have always helped developing nations are hardest hit now and are struggling to minimize casualties as much as possible.
The playing field doesn’t get more flatter than this. But are there benefits to the bubble bursting? I believe there are and its high time we sought them. There is a light at the end of the tunnel. I choose to believe it’s there despite the tunnel being much longer than expected. First, we just need to accept our reality. Acceptance brings a freedom of sorts and moves us further from denial and closer to responsibility where we do what we can to help turn the situation around. Acceptance helps us be more proactive than defensive in the situation.
Secondly, I see this as a forced global tactical withdrawal. We need to step back and re consider how we will move forward. Maybe the universe saw that humans were driving it straight towards a steep cliff that would be the end of us all. We have become human doings led by strong, personal and mostly greedy desires that blind us to the effect our actions have on others. We have damaged (sometimes killed) many relationships and are destroying mother nature at an alarming rate. Many of us operate on short term goals and wins. I hope that once the un-pause button is pressed and we get a new normal, we will have a long (and wider) view of our motives and actions. May we adopt Richard Dawkins quote moving forward. He says, “Let us try to teach generosity and altruism, because we are born selfish.”
Lastly the busyness that we are addicted to has evaporated and many of us are clueless on how to function. May this bubble bursting take us back to caring and feeling deeply about what matters in life. We have all been strongly reminded that life is but a breath away and just a sneeze or touch can take us out. May we learn to make our days count going forward. May corona help us become more people oriented and less task oriented in future. May we seek more cool spots instead of hot spots as we move on in life. We don’t have to be glued to the screens on our devices scrolling for stuff that mostly won’t benefit us. Too much breaking news may end up breaking us in the process. We can try sitting in a restaurant or a vehicle and just stare around taking in our surroundings, appreciate it and be on the lookout for an opportunity to do good.
If it will take our personal bubbles bursting for us to re-learn being our brothers (and mother natures) keeper then so be it. May this be our new normal. I love how Sonya Renee Taylor has described life post corona. “We will not go back to normal. Normal never was. Our pre- corona existence was not normal other than we normalized greed, inequity, exhaustion, depletion, extraction, disconnection, confusion, rage, hoarding, hate and lack. We should not long to return my friends. We are being given the opportunity to stitch a new garment. One that fits all of humanity and nature.”
That describes the world I desire to live in after COVID 19 has left us alone. And if that’s what living outside my bubble looks like then may my bubble remain burst forever. Bubble or burst bubble folks, what’s your pick?
“We cannot go back to normal, normal never was.” That hit me. You know this isolation business reminds me of growing up in the 80s. The pace of life was tenable. Banks closed at 3pm, supermarkets at 5pm. So our folks organised their times around these hours. Also I have no recollection of hearing my mum saying that she was living the house to go half way across town to have coffee or tea with a friend. The said friend came home for tea, usually with her little brood. The mums drank tea, and the children played. Usually at 5 pmish, the visitors left to go to their homes, presumably for their evening routine, and we definitely had ours. Bath. Supper. Bed. The then TV station “closed” at 11pm and last programme for us was a no-no.
In my humble view, this clock work pace was good for our mental, emotional, physical and financial health. Maybe this is what normal really is. Once we come out of this period, it is my intention to resume this simple, unhurried and content routine.
And on what you said about acceptance, no truer words have been spoken. Acceptance as you rightly say brings forth freedom, which in turn brings contentment, which in turn brings the fidelity to simplicity.
The 80s seems like a scene out of a movie.
“We are being given the opportunity to stitch a new garment. One that fits all of humanity and nature.”
The Earth is healing, many lessons for us to learn or not. ( seeing as some of our spots are like a tiger’s) The 80”s sound like a beautiful scene from a movie indeed wow! Oh, how i wish we could restart our settings.