We will be publishing submissions about the COVID-19 crisis from readers daily on New Philosopher in the hope that it can help us all make sense of what is happening, and as a historical record of how it made us feel. Here are your thoughts, from around the world.
By Amy Christine, Seattle, USA
I wonder if collectively many of us were feeling this sort of inexplicable restlessness leading up to the days this pandemic burst onto the global scene. I know I was. I had been feeling like I was living with one foot in one world and one foot out in another world that was urging me on, but didn’t quite understand or grasp the fabric of yet. But something in me longed for it, I longed for a freedom that I felt had slowly been slipping away. If there is one thing that can unify a people, put us all on a level playing field, it is the fear of impending disaster. There seems to be only two options during a crisis and that is either succumbing to the fear, or learning to trust. I myself am fighting for the latter.
During a crisis we are reminded for a moment of who we really are, and where we place our illusions. For me I was reminded that time is the ultimate illusion. We waste it, we desperately do what we can to buy it, and once it’s gone you can never get it back. Time is the real currency. We are each going to experience different paradigm shifts as we move through these stages of the Covid outbreak but it seems as though a lot of us will end up in a similar space after all is said and done. I feel the days of simplicity and joy are returning for those of us brave enough to embrace this change and not try to hold on because we are afraid.
What it means to be human in twenty-twenty is in the process of re-creation and that can be a beautiful thing, no matter how painful it feels right now. Whether we choose to surrender to this new reality or not, that is the trajectory humankind is on. I’m not saying these are not troubling times because they are. The suffering is paramount and spans from one end of the socio-economic scale to the other. But we need to take advantage of this time to re-evaluate what really matters and quit making excuses for why we feel we need to sell out who we really are because a sick society is constantly defining what success is. Twenty-twenty is the opportunity to put your mark on the legacy you want to leave in this world. We need more brave-hearted people leading the way. It’s time.
