“Yes, this is certainly a wakeup call.”
Almost every conversation with friends echoes that sentiment in some form. It is in reference to the COVID-19 pandemic that has the world in its thrall.
The novel coronavirus is pushing us to think in novel ways. There is much more introspection as we consider the world before and try to imagine the world after this pandemic. One consensus is that our lives, our world will be different. We seem resigned to the fact that we will not go back to what was. The ‘new normal’ is au courant, often repeated as we try to accept that we will not fall back but go forward to a new reality where life as we know it will be forever changed.
World leaders, journalists, social commentators, religious leaders, and political pundits have their own take on what this pandemic means as it unfolds in ways that affect every facet of our lives. They too see a changing and changed world.
It has taken a pandemic for us to pause and consider our relationship to nature, to others, to families to all who live on this planet.
Even as we are forced into self- isolation, quarantined, holed up in our personal spaces, COVID-19 decimates borders. We cannot go to our playgrounds while it makes the entire world its playground.
In isolation I find the time to go inward. I muse about what I would like to see in the ‘new normal’.
First is that I would like to see the old rat race be replaced by a humane race. The rat race had taken over our lives. The rat race is propelled by greed and envy. In the rat race we look at costs, not value or worth. The rat race turns vulnerable citizens into commodities to eke out profits.
The rat race propels us to find the easy way out, not seek the thrill or satisfaction of achievement. The rat race panders to I and ME but forgets about WE and US. The rat race touts rights but ignores responsibilities.
The rat race is the master of labelling. It belittles anyone that in its egomaniacal disillusionment it considers to be ‘the other’.
In the rat race we trample anything and anyone in our paths to satisfy our own desires while we disregard the common good. The rat race mindset is to take, and take some more and to neglect giving and sharing. Neither does the rat race ever think of gratitude.
The rat race is full of busyness, forever on the treadmill, racing fast and furious going nowhere as there is no finality to greed.
The rat race is a daily grind, putting your shoulder to the wheel for instant gratification. In that pursuit we mistake the ephemeral for the permanent. That fleeting fix does not satisfy so we are continuously on that revolving wheel.
We are so enamoured of the rat race we forget to be humane. Too enthralled by the acquisitive insatiable avarice of the rat race we forget we belong to the human race. The rat race is selfish; the human race is a community to which we all belong but where we have failed to fulfill our collective obligations.
This pandemic shines a bright light on the impotence of our existence. However, it shows us ways to redeem ourselves to become a human race that can build a humane new world if we wish to do so.
The best news items are those that show how empathetic we, who live in a rat race, can become when jolted out of our complacency and busyness. In isolation creativity is freed. Music, art, dancing, drive-by birthday parties, silly walk zones, outpourings of kindness towards service providers, and acknowledgment of the value of that service are foremost.
We are learning to recognize what matters. There are new categories of people who define courage, sacrifice, caring and empathy. These are examples of the humane race.
The humane race looks outward and upward.
The Meander: As human beings we are given the ability to think and reason and the incredible gift of choice. What will the choice be for our new normal? Will it be regression to the rat race or progression towards a humane race?