The Virus.
The SARS-COVID-2 pandemic, has surprised most people. Although it shouldn’t have, because it was coming, always. It’s just that we had turned an blind eye to it, because we wanted to pretend that it’s all good and certain from here on.
This sense of safety was further intensified because mankind has had a terrific run since World War II, never in history were things like this, the world has mostly been at peace for last 60 years, almost no large scale wars, most nations are politically stable and open to trade and tourism, moving around and communicating have become cheaper and very safe, most of the issues of the 20th centuries have either been dealt with or are being taken pretty good care of by the institutions and systems put in place after the World War/Cold War ended(Not to say that problems have been abolished or there aren’t any issues with the current political and economic climate of the world).
It has made us,as a civilization believe that whatever goes wrong, just because we have some smart individuals and very advanced machines, we will be able to figure some way out without having some skin in the game. The flaw with that line of thinking,is that it originates from an assumption that we are somehow different from everything else that exists, and we are for the most part, in control of what happens here, although that may be the case in certain aspects, but we are not some entity that is separate from nature, we, like other organisms and entities, are expressions of nature, we just, by some cosmic coincidence or some divine plan, became self- aware, went beyond the imperatives of existence like food and reproductive partner and began seeking something more — happiness, stability and meaning.
But for some reason we feel entitled and expect to be treated ‘fairly’(whatever that means) by the forces of nature, and when we see that we are susceptible to random extermination by an invisible virus, we cry foul. And start hiding behind excuses — that our authorities were not cautious enough, or the spread of the virus was an accident.
We are too sure that it could have been avoided, that the catastrophe is something out of place, something that shouldn’t have happened. Or would not have happened if we had not done so much damage to the planet. Such thoughts are too optimistic, that is, they are based on a presumption that nature has certain intention towards us or that nature ‘acts’ in terms of good and evil. People who entertain such thoughts, probably find it difficult to accept that we are alone and everything on this planet is indifferent not only to our existence but to our extinction as well, and out there is just dark meaningless abyss.
We just want to be blindly certain of what the future will look like and refuse to face the fact that we are susceptible to sudden death, that some event will render all our thoughts, emotions and ambitions instantly meaningless. That all our plans and hopes and dreams exist only to be engulfed the absurd.
Safety — something that our species collectively is seeking — comes from our ability to predict the future nearly accurately, but future now is not something that can be foreseen from here because it isn’t what we thought it was, like the past was not something that it has become. Six months ago it was about political superpowers, GDPs, market caps, the Olympics , the next Disney movie, the next iPhone. Now, when I look back all I see is incompetence of the UN and other state entities, corruption and totalitarianism in China, failure of our leaders in properly identifying the extent of the crisis, and lack of scientific understanding among people who ignored very apparent early warnings.
The whole planet now is standing on a tight rope of anxiety, wondering when things will get normal? But that question I think, is not only futile, it’s backwards! Perhaps the meaning of this tragedy is that normal is gone, things will never be like they were, all that was, is gone, social behavior has been re- calibrated, product supply chains are broken, stock markets are red, healthcare systems are gasping for last breath before they go down under. This absolutely catastrophic fallout has spilled some truths out, that we usually don’t want to accept — We are in uncharted territory, news channels telling us it’s getting better, politicians telling us it’s under control,all of those are just comforting lies. NO ONE KNOWS, not that leader that we have elected, not that futurist billionaire, not that intelligent scientist!
We can tell ourselves that it could have been avoided, only if healthcare was better or government was not lethargic. But,it’s not about failing to predict and mitigate this particular event. It’s not about whether this pandemic could have been avoided, had we, as individuals along with our institutions were more vigilant.
This — the pandemic —along with the economic and political meltdown that it will cause, is just an accumulation of the deadly ways of existence that we had assumed,the way of life, that we now, with nostalgic longing call ‘the old normal life’. From our questionable political choices to our eating habits, which we so clearly knew will someday walk us off a cliff, yet we tolerated them.
Now that the tragedy is unfolding before our eyes, no matter how immediate, real and epic it is, we still feel that it is something that is happening ‘outside’, that our friends and families will be left untouched, it’s so evidently irrational to think that we along with our friends and family will survive. But yet, we do live like that.
But, something worthy of contemplation is that, even if , you and I, fortunately remain untouched by this particular tragedy and get to see this virus wiped out of existence. What about the next one?
Because it’s not about this pandemic, it’s not about this particular virus. It’s about THE VIRUS, the virus that is going to get us all one day, while we are busy working towards our flawless trajectories of future, who knows what that will look like — a deadlier pandemic, a political upheaval, a nuclear war, an economic meltdown, rise of religious extremism? No one!
The Virus, is the next impending catastrophe, that isn’t here yet, but is coming, and will catch us unprepared.
This is not an attempt to induce anxiety, neither is this an arrogant attempt at predicting what lies ahead. It’s just a meditation on the inevitability and unimportance of our own end, which strangely, does not make it more frightening, and one no longer feels quite so sad about the time when none of us will be here.
One needs to make peace with that, because eventually, we’ll get there!
