It would be foolish to say that no one saw this coming. Some people did, but we simply didn't listen to them. But that is the way it always is in these sort of circumstances: we were too busy, or too scared or too proud, to listen.
Even a cursory glance over history shows that this is nothing new, not by a long shot. What makes this different is that we are now global and, with that blessing, comes the other side of the sword. We are, in our own very real way, a Global Town, just like the port of Oran in Camus' novel.
It has come like a tsunami, with only the very few who, like certain animals, knew what was coming and somehow fled, somehow knowing to leave before it all came crashing down. That being said, I do not know of anyone who had the foresight of even the birds in all this. It seems, to myself at least, that no one did or was able to flee the oncoming wave.
Let it be said that the days before were like any other and that the concerns of almost everyone were simply on what lay before them in the immediate future. Unlike the last stock market crash, where everyone seemed to talk in loud whispers about selling their houses for an insane profit and unqualified college students were offering half a million dollar loans with absolute ease (trust me, I was offered them), not to mention the earlier tech bubble that gave myself and seemingly everyone I knew sone gift from the market, this one has come at a time where the general attitude was, "Well, we are getting by." Climbing up the ladder of wealth was never a spoken or believed option.
In the end, it begins and ends with gravity, expectation, and physics.
We lived our lives with our heads placed the way we always did: looking at our feet and at times gazing up tp make sure we did not collide with anyone. None of us desired that collision of two bodies, unknown to each other, colliding into one another, gravity being the immoral imperative that it always has been.
We always expected things to go on and, at the very very least, not get worse. Most of us were not thriving, but feeling well enough to not worry as we tried to go to sleep. Others, such as real estate agents, were thriving and making great wealth, with no one remembering of what happened not so long ago when the last real estate boom happened. And there were the people in retirement who saw their portfolios of safety swell beyond expectation via realms they never bothered to measure or truly investigate, now see their literal future crash before them. All of us who could breath with relative ease just a few weeks before are now gasping for air.
And, finally, physics. This literal wave is crashing upon us and none of us can control physics. The virus continues to multiply and mutate due to molecules and all the laws that we perceive to govern it. The water falls around us and we curse the same sky that gave us sunshine during out blessed Summer memories and the quiet rainy days where we either stayed in bed (alone or with someone) and listened to a smooth jazz album or walked alone with the music of Eric Satie in our souls along half filled streets visiting record stores, cafes, and antique shops. We never challenged or cursed the amoral skies before, but now it is all we do.
Let it be said that a few were reaping rich rewards while most were having their daily bread. We were able to have our earthly desires fulfilled for a moment with a quick swipe on our cell phones, And, most importantly, we amused ourselves to death without speaking to one another vie the technology we helped bloom into life.
But now flesh being near flesh can kill the ill and elderly. A simple gathering at a bar has been forbidden. We are pressing hard upon the digital flesh and communion we created. (Personally, I have three movies ready to be watched on my computer. ) But it seems we are all being impaled upon a unique isolation, one that is both of the flesh and the spiritual unknown. It seems we forever hinged our digital isolation on the doorway of escape into the flesh and blood. And now, that escape is been deeply narrowed.
All that being said, no one worth their salt can say that physics is perfectly defined or without mystery. We must all now walk, not fearfully run, into that unknown where, thankfully, there are no answers. We are all making this up as we go along, doing the best we can.
When this chapter in history is written, those that come after it will know the ending. We, however, do not, and we must fight with all we have with love, kindness, and compassion to be fully alive these days. As I write this, I am sure that things will only get stranger as pieces are filled into the narrative puzzle.
We never asked for this, but we got it regardless. Now, we must make the best of it by caring for each other in ways we have hopefully not forgotten.
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