OK, this is March 30, 2020 and the 15th day of the Covid-19 pandemic. Yes that's right a world wide deadly virus that has us all huddled in fear. A virus that originates in an animal (some say bats) and ingested by some people, (ugh) has been passed from person to person all over the world.
One of the effects of increased and some say improved transportation has allowed a bug to travel to every country in the world! Overnight the people of the world have been quarantined or urged to maintain "safe distancing" protocols in order to keep from being infected or from infecting others. There is no vaccine or magical cure that can stop it, hospitals fill up and there are not enough "ventilators" to ease the breathing of the sick. Children are told to stay indoors, grandparents are isolated from their families. The world looks like a scene out of a dystopian movie where all the streets are empty and all the shelves in the markets are bare. People are so afraid that they hoard things like toilet paper and bottled water. Hand sanitizers are a thing of the past and eggs are a premium. The stock market didn't just drop, it disappeared. In what seems like in just a moment, the world has been turned upside down.The issues of the day have all gone away! There are no other issues on the nightly news, or the talk shows on TV. All college and professional sports have been stopped, even the Olympics of this summer have optimistically been postponed until NEXT YEAR! All talk of political elections, rival politics, and national conflicts have faded in the light of this greater threat.
What is clear is that when people have to stop driving, stop gathering together, stop going to work, and are forced to just turn off the industrial main switch, the world seems to get better! The skies are clear, the air is clean, the freeways are empty! There is less crime, world leaders are actually talking to one another in helpful ways, and the ozone layer is being repaired! If ever there was a proof of Global Warming or that the Earth is actually a living thing and that we are killing it, it is now! It is like God said "THAT'S ENOUGH!" "WASH YOUR HANDS, GO TO YOUR ROOM AND THINK ABOUT WHAT YOU HAVE DONE!"
It all happened so fast that it seemed like a higher power just turned off the switch. So here we are, clinging to any kind of communications device we can in order to maintain our humanity. We will get past this as we have survived pandemics of the past. Let's just hope that we can learn our lesson and emerge smarter and more appreciative than when we were SENT TO OUR ROOMS.
