Passing Thought...
Over a nice dinner at one of our two favourite French restaurants this evening, this didn't so much occur to me, as crystallise its form...
I remember when we first saw one of our friends, after the lockdown restrictions were beginning to ease about a month or so ago & I said I thought the lockdown should go for longer, as everyone will now just snap back to the way things were before - the previous 'normal'. If the lockdown had gone for longer, everyone would have more time to get their heads around the fact that things will never go back to 'normal' as we know it... & there would be less chance of recidivism & the much-feared second wave - even before the first one had properly broken over us
Sure, the economy would have tanked & some hell would break loose, but it's not like that hasn't happened before - the First World War screwed everything up for four years & was followed by a two-year 'flu pandemic. The Great Depression of the early '30s, then the Second World War that screwed everything up for six years. Various subsequent stock market crashes in the last thirty years or so & each time, we have adjusted & found a way to carry on, returning to prosperous times within what's really a short amount of time, historically speaking. I'm sure the actual days & weeks of those years were pretty tough, but as a civilisation, we seem to have made it through relatively unscathed
But here we are, faced with another global crisis & not only are we ignoring the expert advice, ignoring the actual disease, or refusing to believe it actually exists, but we're also getting upset that the pubs are closed, or taking to the streets, armed with assault weapons, to protest against measures that are designed to save our lives. The selfishness, the self-centredness & above all, the sheer hubris of this attitude is making me cheer on the virus & hope it does wipe out our civilisation, if this is what we've become
One hell of a 'factory reset' for the human race, seems to be the only answer
I remember when we first saw one of our friends, after the lockdown restrictions were beginning to ease about a month or so ago & I said I thought the lockdown should go for longer, as everyone will now just snap back to the way things were before - the previous 'normal'. If the lockdown had gone for longer, everyone would have more time to get their heads around the fact that things will never go back to 'normal' as we know it... & there would be less chance of recidivism & the much-feared second wave - even before the first one had properly broken over us
Sure, the economy would have tanked & some hell would break loose, but it's not like that hasn't happened before - the First World War screwed everything up for four years & was followed by a two-year 'flu pandemic. The Great Depression of the early '30s, then the Second World War that screwed everything up for six years. Various subsequent stock market crashes in the last thirty years or so & each time, we have adjusted & found a way to carry on, returning to prosperous times within what's really a short amount of time, historically speaking. I'm sure the actual days & weeks of those years were pretty tough, but as a civilisation, we seem to have made it through relatively unscathed
But here we are, faced with another global crisis & not only are we ignoring the expert advice, ignoring the actual disease, or refusing to believe it actually exists, but we're also getting upset that the pubs are closed, or taking to the streets, armed with assault weapons, to protest against measures that are designed to save our lives. The selfishness, the self-centredness & above all, the sheer hubris of this attitude is making me cheer on the virus & hope it does wipe out our civilisation, if this is what we've become
One hell of a 'factory reset' for the human race, seems to be the only answer