The First Grade of the Pandemic

23 May 2020

Our world has slowed.  This world has really, really slowed. Our lockdown has been in place for a little better than eight weeks. Some of the world is reemerging this weekend, reopening. We will see what becomes of us as the world opens up. Be safe my friends.  Do what the experts tell you based on who you are and what you do and where you live.

Over the past few weeks I have learned various things which without the pandemic’s changes in my life I would never picked up.  I have learned things about people I know, discerned attributes really. These traits are things I have never seen before in people I have known for years.  

I have discovered their top 10 album favorites.  Truth be told I would not have expected some of the people posting along this line to have had the time or inclination to have specific musical favorites.  (Oh wait, I am being Judgee McJudgeface right now.) On almost a daily basis I have learned people’s food likes and dislikes. 

Some knowledge has come from Facebook challenges that say list the top 10, etc.  Some has come from comments about the bad habits of others with whom these folks are sharing their isolation with. You can learn a great deal about someone based on what they bitch about. Some insight has come from the political and philosophical posts including memes people have put up.  Has been a wonder to see who has been traveling the same road I have been on and who made a hard right or a hard left turn some years ago. Observing all this has been an education. I

My personal experiences have offered up a dose of true learning. What has the pandemic taught me?  Well, it has taught me that no matter how well we think we understand the way the world works, we don’t really get it.  For all of our human cockiness, nature tells us-we the erect walking masters of the earth, that we can be felled by the tiniest bit of biology. I have learned humans don’t play the long game.  We behave for short periods of time and are compliant with good practices for a few weeks, but this adherence to best practices doesn’t last.  Americans in particular seem to value individual freedom over group safety. (I have had reinforced my notion Americans all have very individualized views of freedom.) I learned that the shortest distance from respectful conversation to invective is engendered by a general distrust of authority. In our world experts urging caution will not be heard as readily as charismatic populists urging action now.

I have also learned that in a slower, more geographically limited world, you become aware of the lives and personalities of your neighbors. You share things from food to tools to conversation. In this world, with the pause button on, I have learned you have the time to speak to people who pass by the front of your house doing their daily rounds, albeit from a safe six feet away. I have learned things that there was no time for in my past.  I have learned to value the aesthetics of my yard. I have learned the condition of various tools and pieces of furniture about the homestead, need to be addressed. In a slow world values shift. Because when you are not always on the move, you can or perhaps have to, focus on the things that surround you in your immediate environment.

I am sure that before this is all over, I will learn a great deal more.

No real tie to the above text.  This is just a pretty song Apple told me I would like.  Apple was right.