is it gonna end? It’s The Question millions of people ask these days. When can we live and go about our lives in a normal manner again? Finally cast away all this protective gear, and breathe normally? Like we used to not that long ago.
There are definite signs in the air and everywhere that - no, not of it being over - but that we, so many of us, are getting so so fed up with having to gear up and be extra cautious. Fed up with all the turmoil and damage it has done to our relationships, work prospects, health, personal finances, and what have you.
It’s not even that people rely too much on the power of vaccines, and relax too early. No, we are just getting tired of being cautious.
For it is like having to constantly look over your shoulder and check for any signs of danger in a foreign environment or enemy territory. Living in a state of emergency is taxing. Luckily it is usually (for most of us) just a temporary thing. But when that state of emergency is prolonged - as it is now - certain things are bound to take place.
These times, just like any other extreme times, have perhaps exposed sides of us that we seldom need to show or didn’t even know we possess. Much of it can be negative (defeatism, pessimism, selfishness, lethargy, greed, fear, hate), but much of it also positive (resilience, perseverance, optimism, frugality, altruism, love). In the midst of all this we are all forced to face ourselves, our weaknesses and strengths.
All the while hearing or reading about - or experiencing - the many effects of climate change that also cast a shadow over our lives and future hopes.
We may even feel betrayed. For what we thought was going to be like a turn of an hourglass - especially since or if we did just the right things - has actually turned into a perpetual motion machine that we cannot see that it is ever going to stop.
Is it?
Nobody knows when. But one day it will. Until then, we just need to take the best possible care of ourselves and each other. Not give into despair, but ride on the wings of that perpetual motion machine like mothers giving birth are sometimes instructed by their midwives to ride on the waves of their pains. Knowing that after the final pain, new life awaits.
This too shall pass.