(Thank you, Carolyn Baker, for the above quote and the many quotes I get from the Daily Digest.
Musings, April 14, 2020
You are a normal person, having normal reactions to an abnormal situation.
The stay at home order has given me the opportunity to catch up with some of my good intentions (such as call friends to see how they are), reflect, write and start seeds for the garden. Like many I have spoken to, slowing down has given me a new perspective on life. Without thinking about the next place I need to be, I can be present to what I am doing, or thinking about. It is nice to explore in-depth topics with Michael without feeling the need we have to stop in order to rush out the door.
Lately, I have been pondering time and space. Does history really repeat itself or, as Mark Twain said, does it rhyme?
When I was growing up I had the impression that the Civil War was fought just prior to my birth, the mid-1940’s. I arrived at this perspective because when we visited my relatives in Georgia they spoke of the Civil War as if it happened yesterday. By five years old I could tell you that Sherman had marched from Atlanta to Savannah and stayed at the family home. I knew the stories of spies who were sent ahead and “befriended”my great grandfather. I knew the men of the family had divided over the war, some going North to fight and some remaining with the Confederates. And, when Sherman arrived at the home with the intention to burn it, like all the others in the area, the spies said, “We know this man. You cannot burn his home.” (The story goes that one woman remained, rocking on the front porch. She told Sherman that the men had gone to fight.)
There were other stories about the Civil War war that I grew up hearing. (I never heard stories about the Great Depression and very few about World War II.) Occasionally, I would wonder what it must have been like to have lived through that war? To have soldiers come into your home, take your possessions, your livestock, possibly your life? How do you pick up and start over after this trauma?
I still wonder, but I really don’t want to know. I prefer to remain in my comfortable space in the Maine woods with Michael, dogs, garden….trying to maintain my idea of normalcy, which no longer exists. I was not expecting to be thinking about this sort of thing in snuggly socks and yoga clothes, trying not to panic and craving another cup of tea while my dogs beg to go to the beach. (We can still go to one of the few beaches remaining open if we maintain social distancing and don’t go in groups larger than 10.)
Over the years I have struggled with being either a Cassandra or Chicken Little. These days I can’t maintain my silence when I hear someone talk as though tomorrow will be just like yesterday, or BP (Before Pandemic). I know that many think that when the stay home order is lifted we will return to the old “normal.” We won’t because we can’t. We are moving from our consumer economy of “What do I want?” to “What do I need?” (That doesn’t mean that companies wont use every trick they know to get us back into consumer mode.)
There may be more similarities between our life after the pandemic and life following the Civil War than we care to think about.
I wonder if and when we return to work what will we return to? 47% of our economy is made up of small businesses. How can they reopen after months of lost income? (I don’t need to go into the stimulus which has already been reduced because of the requests for help.) People without work these past few months have no money. That $1200 they will receive has already been spent.
Nobel-prize winning economist Robert Shiller has noted that fear of the coronavirus is going to cause many Americans to avoid restaurants, sporting events and other businesses where public interaction is required for a long time to come.
Yet, our current way of life has created crises far more devastating and far-reaching than the coronavirus: millions dying of starvation, war or poverty; millions of displaced refugees; droughts and fire destroying fertile land; landfills overflowing, plastics polluting our oceans, rapidly occurring climate change: hurricanes, storms, fires and floods killing thousands and destroying millions of homes; inequality between the 1% and the rest of us; conflict between nations escalating into near nuclear threats. No, a return to business as usual, to the values and assumptions of the past, would be suicidal.
Lynn McTaggart recently wrote, “Business as usual is not an option. Most of us knew change was at hand, we just didn’t know it would happen so suddenly. All our societal creations, invested in competition and individuality, run counter to our most fundamental being. The coronavirus crisis is exposing in every way that the developed world is not living in harmony with nature.”
I am hopeful that this break from normalcy will help us create a new, other-centered, nature-centered way of living. Perhaps walks in the woods or by the ocean will help us begin to think differently.
Stay safe, be well and hug and kiss those you can.
{{{Hugs}}}
Winter
“Even the withered branch grows again
And the sunken moon returns.
Wise ones who ponder this
Are not troubled in adversity.”
— Hindu proverb
Food for Thought:
Peak Prosperity: Boosting Your Immune System in Defense Against Coronallvirus