It’s been a week since I posted “historic context” and I haven’t written a single thing in that time. I am not alone in that. This past week has seen an extraordinary amount of change because of the world wide pandemic that is COVID-19 (commonly called the coronavirus). I simply have not had the wherewithal to just sit down and write. There is a staggering amount of anxiety out there and it has leeched into us here. It is hard to NOT panic when everyone else is in panic mode. The biggest fear is the transmission rate and our lack of ability to stop it. We don’t have any kind of vaccine to counter this and people have been dying by the thousands over the past few weeks. It is true that most of the deaths are not near us here in the middle of PA, but the simple fact that within a stunningly short number of days there are hundreds of people near us that have this virus makes that panic suddenly sound more reasonable. Panic is not a reasonable response, but it is understandable to be deeply shaken by the speed this hit us with and our genuine lack of preparedness.
When this was ramping up I started to make a list of meetings and events that had been called off because of this virus. It seems almost quaint to look at that list from a week ago. What has been canceled? Everything. The Governor of the state issued an order for all non-life sustaining business to close. All of them. There’s a sudden mad scramble to change how people can work and discussions about the nature of that work (and in many cases that people can’t work now and have been laid off or fired in vain attempts to save a business). In a move that was previously declared as “never going to happen” I have started to set up the ability to work from home. This is admittedly a challenge because the very nature of my work is collaborative. We shall see how it all works out only after more time has passed.
If you’re reading this right now, I have no doubt that you know most of what I have just written. It’s not possible to avoid this news. Why am I writing it here? Historic context. I didn’t remember small parts of what happened when America was attacked on 9/11. If I had not written them down in one of my sketchbooks at work I would have forgotten. There are other parts in my book, but I posted the most relevant to what I am trying to get across.
Businesses are closed. The government has moved to bare essential personnel, schools are closed. Stores have row upon row of empty shelves (see panic above). Anxiety rides high. It has become more and more clear how unprepared we are for anything that changes how we charge ahead in our day to day lives unthinking of what can happen. Everyone is aware now. The change is here and you can’t avoid it.
I think Douglas Adams put it best:
Tomorrow I start my first full day of working from home. So does my lovely wife. She and I will be sharing office space now. My daughter will be home from school all this week at a minimum. That might extend even longer, depending on the spread of the virus and how attempts to contain it work out.
Welcome to the new normal.
As things stand right now, I am still filled with anxiety. There are massive numbers of unanswered questions. Plans as far out as May are already canceled and plans for July are being questioned. My daughter is supposed to be traveling to France in August to begin a year of study in that country – and the entire program is in doubt right now for the first time in 70 years. I can’t comprehend the scope of this right now, but I wanted to write this all down so that someday I will be able to look back at this and remember some of the smaller details. I might even print this out – just in case the electronic version is somehow unavailable. There’s that panicky edge again…
Stay safe and healthy.