According to Oxford Dictionary, a “new normal” is a previously unfamiliar or atypical situation that has become standard, usual, or expected.
History reveals that the aftermath of plagues have brought on radical transformations for societies. So what changes could come in the aftermath of Covid 19?
I met an 84 year old who spoke of living through Polio, diphtheria, Vietnam, protests and yet, he is still enchanted with life. He seemed surprised when I said that 2020 must be especially challenging for him. “No,” he said, looking at me straight in the eyes.
About a hundred years ago, right after World War I and the Spanish Flu, Warren Harding ran for president on the slogan “Return to Normalcy”. He won the election, but there wasn’t any normalcy. There was a thriving and turbulent decade that ended with a Depression.
My 84 year old friend went on to say “I learned a long time ago not to see the world through the printed headlines, I see the world through the people that surround me. I see the world with the realization that we love big. Therefore, I just choose to write my own headlines”:
“Husband Loves Wife Today”
“Family Drops Everything To Come To Grandmas Bedside”
We might speak, yearningly, of our pre-Covid existences, but life has changed abruptly, profoundly and irretrievably. We will, inevitably, go full throttle into a new era.
I think about this past New Year’s Eve heading into 2020, a number associated with perfect vision and clarity — how ironic.
What would my response have been upon being told that soon there would be no live sports or concerts or Broadway shows? That Grand Central Station at rush hour would be empty? That toilet paper might be more valuable than crude oil? That by spring, there would be food lines on the streets and more than 300,000 people worldwide will have died tragically.
My friend went on to say that there is a comfort history; we’ve been here before. And the real reason for optimism might come from knowing that the aftermath of plagues has always brought about some of the greatest transformations, leaving societies looking completely different. Order comes from chaos.
His words smash my worries, freeing them from the tether I had been holding tight. They float away and I am left with a renewed spirit. It was a reminder that our capacity to love is never ending.
My headline now reads “Woman Overwhelmed by Spirit of Kindness”.
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