Sixty Days Later

Over the last two months, we've changed our way of living. We've changed our social behavior, our daily routines, and how we view the world. I still worry we've ignored the most important part of this experience and that is, how we view ourselves. So many of us try to find our cliched niche. When this started, I commented on how introverts seemed so much more threatened by isolation than extroverts. I still believe this. Forcing someone to do anything they view as a choice is burdensome, but forcing them to do something they feel defines them, takes away their identity. The problem with all of this is that we viewed it as sudden. As a whole, we ignored the rest of the world and thought ourselves above "third world" strategies. Now, we're the most infected group on the planet. And yes, we still fight logic. 

Sixty days is a long time within the context of an entire year. If spread out, it would be done once every six days. The continuity is what is getting us to believe this is taking so very long. In the context of my life, it's merely one in every two-hundred fifty-three days. As I often point out, life, if lived, is definitely not too short. 

Thinking has been a recreational sport for many of us. Plans have been ruined, plans have been made, and plans, for many of us, are all that we have. The future will be different, according to the infamous they. Sadly, I don't think we're a learned species. Definitely not over such a short period of time. As someone recently pointed out, we're combatting this new virus almost identically to how we battled The Spanish Flu 100-years ago. Luckily, there is no World War to assist in the spread. Will the "war" on boredom be our demise?

I started thinking and lightly researching past great plagues and pandemics and all seem to center around war, travel, and commerce. Almost all coincided with great power attempting to expand. This one is different, although, one could point to our tensions with China and find many historical parallels. America, the great power, being brought to its economic knees by a virus started in its monetary rival's backyard. This is where conspiracy theories begin, I say, what about faith? Anyone who believes in God believes in some form of historical context. Whether it be Moses, Jesus, Mohammad, or any other variety, there comes a time when those in great power, who view their power as almighty, are persecuted or, in biblical terms, smited. When one looks at the word smite, it is most often referred to in modern terms as a deathly blow, but in biblical terms, very often it is a metaphor for god withdrawing his protection of an individual or group. While I do not believe this is going to result in some form of apocalypse or day of reckoning, it's interesting to view the historical parallels and to see when plagues, pandemics, and famines happened and how they often coincided with maniacal, egotistical power struggles.

Back to our own reality. If we choose to live, love, and believe in a certain way and we allow this period in our lives to pass, unaffected, unchanged, and unhindered in our personal pursuits, then what can we do to prevent natural, omnipotent, or temporary power from destroying us. If we cannot view ourselves as part of something bigger, than how can we hope for peace and an agreed humane existence for all? If we'll rise up for toilet paper and cleaning products, but not for the good of our fellow man, what do we have worth saving? What would God, any god, think of us? If faith is the complete trust in something when this is over, there will still be those who view it as God's Will, but will there be a single believer who has faith in his fellow man?