I've made no bones of the fact that I'm at odds with the world. This has never been more clear than in the last weeks. While I make no claim at understanding things, I'm very clear there is much I don't grasp. So bearing that in mind, here is your chance to check out before I start blathering.
For anyone who's still here, hi!
This is not a soapbox for me to complain. Not this time. I don't want to whine or go on about about my nature or a lot of the things I typically address here. There is already so much negativity that a recluse carping about the way things aren't or should be is just heaping dung on offal.
So instead I just want to put out a wish that we can stop inducing panic for a bit.
We live in a time where perspective may be more rare than platinum. Reason has given way to simply following big, shiny exciting things. We've become reactive creatures that don't really process stimulus beyond our reflex response. We parrot what we see and hear but rarely think about it in between.
This is not me trying to downplay a pandemic. Of course we need to be cautious and vigilant.
At the same time, we have no idea of how things will play out. How many predictive models have been put forth? How accurate are they?
Again, this isn't about science so I apologize if my language is trite. I'm not a scientist and I'm certainly not an epidemiologist.
All I'm writing about is that we're freaking out when stepping back to watch and wait may make more sense for our collective wellbeing.
This is a scary time. We really don't know what's going on. So much is hypothetical and conjecture. That part is good. Looking at this from as many angles as possible benefits us all. People are dying and we feel helpless.
But adding to the hysteria or over-dramatizing when most of us are in a situation that is not yet really bad helps no one.
I'm fortunate in my day job to be in contact with people all over the world, from other parts of this country, to Europe and Asia. No one is taking this lightly and no one should. But speaking to and writing with people all over the planet has shown me that we are the only country sensationalizing the situation. Every headline I see is playing up aspects of the events to generate fear. Not wariness. Not leading with what new information may have been garnered. But those elements of any statistic likely to scare anyone reading them.
The reality is that we have only been looking at this for a short time and we are just now starting to see the bigger spread pattern. Whatever this is and will be, we're still learning. We're gathering data and working to deal with it. We know -- we think -- who's at highest risk. That part is good. But the longterm is still an absolute unknown.
We're alive. We're part of an ecosystem. We're also the only species trying to unbalance it continually. We want to live longer and without disease. But disease is a part of the ecosystem, too. And each time we find a way to combat something new and more dangerous than what's preceded it, we're unintentionally causing the ecosystem to create something even scarier to try and maintain balance.
Let me repeat something: we're alive.
Some have died and I'm no fan of that, but it's also reality. Yet the reality is that being alive means any of us can die at any time. The most mundane things can end a life. Its fragility is what makes it so precious. The fact that our lives are finite is a part of what gives them meaning.
But we're still here.
I don't think for one minute that I'm going to wake up tomorrow and step into an episode of the Twilight Zone where I'm the last two-legged critter about. I know there will be more bad news. But if I've learned anything from surviving riots, earthquakes, floods and a mudslide, it's that there is always hope. We may not be getting the good news from the big media sources, but I promise you there is still good news in the world. There are reasons to hope. We can still love. We can still believe in all kinds of things.
You may be a nihilist or an anarchist. If so, you're likely having the time of your life. But for the rest of us, step away from the TV or the computer screen for a minute. Look out a window. The world is still there. You're still in it. There really are worse things than having to be home for a while. Honest. Really and for true.
I know few are going to read this. I know it isn't going to be a significant gesture on any large scale. But if one person reads this and has one more moment of comparative calm, I'll have done some good. And in a time where there is more and more freaking out, I'll take that.
Now back to reclusion for your not so humble narrator.
I wish you only the best.
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