pandemic

“The Pandemic is a Portal”

What is this thing that has happened to us?

It's a virus, yes.

In and of itself, it holds no moral brief.

But it's definitely more than a virus—

Some believe it is God bringing us to our senses,

Others, that it's a Chinese conspiracy to take over the world.

Whatever it is, coronavirus has made the nightly kneel

and brought the world to a halt

like nothing else could.

Our minds are still racing back and forth,

longing for a return to “normality,”

trying to stitch our future to our past

and refusing to acknowledge the rupture.

But the rupture exists.

And in the midst of this terrible despair,

it offers us a chance

to rethink the doomsday machine we have built for ourselves.

Nothing could be worse than a return to normality.

Historically, pandemics have forced humans to break with the past and imagine their world anew.

This one is no different.

It is a portal,

a gateway between one world and the next.

We can choose to walk through it, dragging the carcasses of our prejudice and hatred,

our avarice,

our data banks and dead ideas,

our dead rivers and smoky skies behind us.

Or we can walk through lightly,

with little luggage,

ready to imagine another world.

And ready to fight for it.

prejudice

hatred

avarice

dead

prejudice

avarice

hatred

dead

imagine

fight

walk

imagine

fight

The choice is yours

Beliefs -> Actions

Challenges are inevitable. They are a part of life.

This was one of my favourite songs growing up, and one of my favourite songs to listen to now as well. It is inspiring, real, and thought-provoking. The belief that there will always be a challenge and how life with just keep fluctuating that way is reality. It is world events like this coronavirus pandemic that makes people realize what is important to them, what they prioritize, and how they should live life. It makes us grateful for the things we once had and the things we still have. It makes us grateful for the small things that we took for granted before. It also makes us realize what it means to be alive as a human on earth.

We have a choice to keep moving forward and progressing with life, or be a victim of stagnation or inertia

Another song I really liked listening to growing up that is about lessons of gratitude and appreciation with the things in our life. It is oftentimes only during difficulties when we as humans fully realize how much we have to be grateful for and how blessed we all are.