The Benefits of the Corona Virus
As the Coronavirus pandemic continues to spread across the globe it is causing the public to grow more anxious by the moment and those concerns are reflected in the drastic government measures to halt, or at least slow the virus by shuttering communities, cities and even entire nations in some cases. Air and other forms of travel has is being stopped, schools and businesses are closing, and major events are cancelling. The economic market is fluctuating dramatically, and we are rapidly adding new phrases to our lexicon like self-isolation and social-distancing and there is no way for anyone to predict where it’s going to go next or how bad it will ultimately get. The one thing we know for sure is that life in 2020 looks very much different than life did in 2019 and the question is, will it ever look the same again?
So, what could possibly be good about such an obvious crisis. Well, certainly the Corona virus outbreak is a good thing, in that it presents humanity with a real opportunity to change. A kind of groundswell change that we would not have been able to achieve on our own (without the help of this virus). Here are a few ways to contemplate this concept and understand it.
Essentially (and there are very few educated people who would disagree with this), the system that we currently have and operate in as a society is almost completely broken. It was built upon a series of ancient principles, mandates, misconceptions and mistakes that date back to the industrial revolution and hundreds of years even before then. And very little has been done to change the system in the last Century. We are living in a time of multiple crises. Everything we do either pollutes the air, earth or water, depletes our natural resources, creates economic fabrications, destroys forests, melts ice-caps, eliminates entire animal species, floods us, burns us, gives us cancer (or some other awful disease), drives us to choose between opioid abuse or murder.
We, as a species only extract the precious elements of the planet for our own consumptive desire, then we excrete all the toxic, non-biodegradable waste and there is absolutely nowhere for it to go. But not only do we exploit the earth and all of its resources, but we capitalize upon each other at every turn as well. We use each other for personal gain only. There is no true love or compassion in this world, there is only egoistic desire driven by envy, lust and honor. Where is the humanity in our humanity?
Then, as if by some stroke of genius, tumbling out of the great design of the universe (conspiracy theories aside) comes this kooky little “corona” virus. The crown. A virus, when compared to some of the other plagues in human history, seems about as harmless as a summer cold. But with a major impact. And what is that impact exactly? Well, apart from the posturing and panic, the hype and the confusion, there is something different about us already and that is beyond the fact that we all wear masks and sanitize the hell out of absolutely everything now.
The difference is just starting to show itself but there is a certain calming effect coming from this panic. We are all seemingly being gently pushed into a new paradigm. We are no longer going to be global but yet, our global interdependence is more obvious than ever. The world’s economy is going to take a hard hit but this economic merry-go-round of production and consumption we are on is slowly killing us anyway. It’s time to get off the ride.
We are being soothed and nurtured now by a system that is essentially telling us, “it’s okay. The change that will come from this is good and necessary. Let go.” We certainly didn’t have the capacity on our own to choose to change a system that needed immediate change, so the corona is doing it for us. For this, we must be grateful. We must be certain of its benefits and we must connect with and support one another throughout this process in order to allow the changes to wash over us easily without resistance. The system is bigger than all of us combined. In fact, all of us combined is the system. We must recognize this and embrace it together. If we can learn this lesson then we will be worthy of the benefits of the Corona virus.
~ Todd Kramer
