As I write this, my state is locked down. Most others, if they haven’t already, are preparing to do the same. Never mind states, many entire countries have shut down for weeks on end. All over one tiny organism.
Watching things unfold from a distance, it seems surreal, like scenes cut from a box-office thriller. Lists of celebrities or officials infected with COVID-19; lists of countries, states, and cities with the numbers of people infected, or statistics of casualties–surely this cannot be real? Surely hospitals have an inexhaustible supply of things as essential as masks. And God-forbid, there’s no way we could actually run out of toilet paper.
Yet it’s all true.
The world has irrevocably changed in just the first few months of 2020. However quickly the crisis passes–and I pray that it’s soon–nothing will quite go back to “normal.”
Was the world ever “normal” to begin with? That’s debatable, but it certainly isn’t now.
So many families have lost loved ones. Unemployment is escalating, and the economy is in shambles. Employees work from home if they can, and the rest try to maintain appropriate “social distancing.”
Being the Sagittarian optimist that I am, I still try to look for the silver lining. Factories in the hardest-hit areas have ceased or slowed operation, reducing pollution. Remote work will probably retain its new-found status, even after “stay at home” is no longer mandated. All over the world, people are coming together to take care of each other, keep one another company from quarantine, and share the resources they have.
Despite all the stories and movies about a hypothetical pandemic, coronavirus has exceeded them. Truth really is stranger than fiction. Life is fragile, resilient, and precious.
I’ve come to realize, in this strange netherworld, that in many ways I was already social distancing before COVID-19. Read my article on social distancing and autism here.
Have courage. Don’t panic. Help whoever you can. Stay safe.
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