We are living in an extraordinary time. I am struck by the symbolism of what is happening. To me it’s as if people all around the world have pressed an enormous pause button, consciously or unconsciously and called a time out. Let’s face it. Life wasn’t exactly simple before COVID-19 struck. The world was wound a bit too tight. And like a watch, once wound too tight, if you continue to wind it, it will break. And, similarly, if an instrument’s strings are too tight, the risk of the strings breaking is high. I would argue that we all might have been wound a bit too tight.
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And so, we find ourselves on March 12, 2020, with one major entity after another cancelling events or closing down for an indeterminate period of time. Some are telling their folks to work from home, others who cannot afford to pay employees to work from home are keeping the doors open. Those who do not work for large companies are being asked to step back, establish a safe distance, self-quarantine (dare I liken that to self-regulate) and all are asked to consider eliminating any non essential travel.
Deepak Chopra said in a post today it’s like we’re all [everyone on the planet] on one giant cruise ship and we can’t get off. We’re seeing more than ever that EVERYTHING is connected. Certainly, in the way of the spirit, but also undeniably, in ways we maybe hadn’t realized. There isn’t a wall big enough that is able to keep this contained. The COVID-19 germs are being shared on a massive scale. Industries world-wide are being threatened. World economies are currently in a precarious situation. It’s been my observation that things have been unsettled for awhile and COVID-19 was the straw that broke the camel’s back.
The ramifications of changes being made in one area of the world, are expanding out in all directions and having an impact on other parts. And all of these parts are not puzzle pieces from different puzzles, they’re puzzle pieces from the same puzzle and we’re being forced to figure out how to get these puzzle pieces to fit and how to bring them back together.
I work on a campus where in person classes have been cancelled until next week. Faculty are being asked to figure out how to bring their instruction to an online format. I’ve heard from students and faculty who are both saying, “I really don’t know what to do.”
After being immersed in an environment all day where there were way more questions than answers, I find myself feeling strangely peaceful. I feel like I’m in the eye of the hurricane right now, that calm before it gets even crazier. But as I reminisce about the day, I also witnessed many people trying very hard to figure it out. I had a young student reporter in front of me who normally is incessantly asking for a quote from our department chair about one issue or another. Instead he lingered and seemed to want certainty or someone to voice his concerns with. He looked at me with his liquid brown eyes and said, “I’m not sure what to write about.” He added he didn’t know what to do.
The world’s reaction to this global pandemic is unprecedented. How we respond to the global pandemic needs to be another. While on one hand we’re being asked to create social distance, on the other hand it is through our shared knowledge, wisdom, experience and concern for humanity that we may find solutions that have never been thought of before. Oftentimes out of great challenges can come great change. Change for the betterment of not just you and not just me, but us. The collective us. The us that called for this time out.
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