The 7 lessons Corona is teaching us.……. I think…
Recently I saw the movie ‘War Z’. I heard it was a great movie and since Brad Pitt is in it, it didn’t take much to persuade me to watch ;-). Patrick, my husband, and I, watched it while being on holiday in Northern Ireland. The movie really hit me. Except that it was very scary, I had this awkward feeling that stuck with me. The next morning I told Patrick, I was afraid something like this could very well become reality soon. For those who didn’t see the movie: it is about a virus that turns people into zombies and is very contagious. Governments, FBI, CIA etcetera try to control it but they fail and…well, I don’t want to spoil it for the people who still want to watch it…
When we returned at Schiphol, the first people returned from Northern Italy, where they enjoyed their skiing holiday. Our daughters friends came over and one of them considerately said that we didn’t need to hug her, if we didn’t want to, since she just came back from holiday in Italy. I laughed and gave her a big hug. There was no corona in Holland yet and the situation in Italy neither didn’t seem very serious, to me. This was two weeks ago…this morning Trump announced all Europeans are not welcome in the US for the next 30 days. Italy is closed as a country. Stock markets keep falling…
What is Corona teaching us? This is what I think and feel it wants to teach us:
1) Nature is in control. Every ‘so many’ years we (as humanity) need some kind of virus to keep us aware of the fact that we are not in control, but nature is. It means some kind of ‘cleanup’ is wanting to emerge, I think. And since we don’t seem to get to a point in the world where we join forces to organise this cleanup, nature does.
2) Our systems are outdated. At first, I thought it is quite a funny mirror for all those systems that we have invented to shape our human presence on earth. It is literally challenging all processes that we shaped our lives around: from economical, consumption, social, societal etc…we are challenged in every aspect of our being human.
3) We are all global citizens. It shows very clearly our interdependency on a global scale. So now we know, we are all global citizens, whether we want to be or not. Not only do we fly food and people all around the world. Also important, a lot of life saving products, that for example hospitals need, are flown around on a daily basis. We are totally dependent on each other. I remember very well when I was manager within a cargo department and we had the ash cloud. I was responsible for cargo to the US and there were hospitals that immediately went into crisis, lives depending on the consequences of a vulcano...
4) Simple life. It might be wishful thinking (could very well be), but I like to think it also shows us on a personal level how complex and full our lives are. I have talked to many people, this last week, who are secretly longing for two weeks at home. Disconnecting from their busy schedules, reading books, connecting to the kids, sleeping…a less full life for a bit. Time to do the things you really love. Simple life.
5) Time to act. In Dutch we have a saying: who doesn’t want to listen has to feel the consequences. I think that is another message. We know we have to change our behaviour to take better care for our planet and ourselves: buy less, consume more locally, etc. Now this virus is automatically forcing us to do so. Quite interesting.
6) Leading self. Within two weeks, I noticed (within myself and my surroundings), that fear is coming and going. It really asks to self-manage our fear and take wise decisions. Balance between being too nonchalant and too cautious. Where do I go, where do I not go. Who do I see, who do I not see?
7) Ubuntu: I am because we are. The African philosophy that is at the core of our being. In a strange way, it also (re)connects us to each other, it bonds. Suddenly it feels like we, humans everywhere around the world, are a community...with a common enemy.
I am very curious (and a bit afraid as well) where all this will take us. Developments really accelerate at the moment. People say our country will also ‘close up’ before the weekend. That is tomorrow. You can’t change the circumstances, but you can influence the way you deal with it. I choose to stay alert and learn every lesson there is to learn from this. And in the meantime be grateful for everything we do have in our lives, without taking that for granted. Because that is also something it teaches us: don’t ever take life for granted.