Okay. Full disclosure. It is bad. Worse than I thought. Israel is down to a limit of ten people together at a maximum. Italy and Spain are now in lockdown. There are places here in the USA that are almost that way. All those movies, novels and even non fiction re epidemics are now coming to fruition, to a reality for us. No, we do not have zombies but we do have questions re society and what will be with it in the future - and now.
How is a country to be run? How are 'essesntial' businesses to be open if there is no public transportation or drivers to operate said buses and trains? Where will the cabdrivers be? Who will drive the trucks from port to store, or farm to store? How do we replenish that which we import and how do we export? Who and how will we educate our kids, especially if the teachers are unavailable?
These are all existential questions and I believe I have not heard any answers worth trusting for reliability or common sense as of yet. Nobody seems to know anything and we have the worst leader at this time for us. He would be, is, terrible at any time, but at a time for crisis, wow, are we sunk, right down to the sub, sub basements of life.Worse, it is worrisome in the fact that he is always that close to pushing his authoritarian agenda, just waiting to impose it,and then, and then....
Will people stick together and keep a good and reliable society in a new world? Do we have a chance of returning to what is or has been termed normal? Even if this lasts for a year before we gain a handle on it - if we gain that handle? How do we insure that people are not left to die in their homes, starve, even as hoarders keep tons of needed supplies in their garages?! Did you see that picture?! Some people!
Go back hundreds and hundreds of years ago during the time the Black Plague wiped out so much of the population of Europe. It left the landowners bereft of field workers. It wiped out entire villages. It left crops rotting in the fields and no new ones being planted. It turned society upside down as the serfs now had the power of scarcity of labor to push requests for better living and working conditions even as the elite fought it, even as they died.
Slowly, slowly, the plague weakened and life began to restore itself, along with serious changes. The fatcats of the time pushed their own agenda and managed to return slavelike conditions to the serfs, though some managed to climb higher and the middle class, so important to society, began to prosper, grow, and build a different society. And like now, the wealthy supported the arts, cultural events, artists, painters, writers, even some scientists, medical advances took place, universities bloomed and a Renaissance began. People learned that plagues would return but they would also end and planned accordingly.
So here we are, just about in the same conditions, though we do have some more scientists, I believe, availaable even as the fool cut funds for the research that could have cut this modern day plague into manageable proportions. We need to hope but for now what do we do, in the present, even as we hang on with our toe nails, or fingernails, standing on the ledges of life.
From time immemorial people have realized that the world of Man and the world of Nature often reflect each other. Unrest in one caused or reacted with unrest in the other. Shakespeare wrote about it and just peruse his plays such as Macbeth, The Tempest, Julius Caesar. If that is not enough, refer back to Job, or to Jonah, who quieted the waves when he was thrown overboard.
That theme has always been there and just look around at us. Look at the weather extremes. Look at the weather predictions for the future. Look at what we have done to G-d's world - and ours. We were given a blessing, a gift beyond all value and see what we have done. Will we have an Abraham who will argue with the Lord to give us a chance, to not pull the plug, to find some good people, enough to keep the world spinning on its axis?
And if we do, if we find enough good people, then what? Will we learn from this or will we return to our old bad ways, step on people as we climb the ladder, ignore the needy, the weakest of society, demean our women, our children, despise our workers and continue to reject all those who do not mirror our own ways, our own beliefs. And for me, as a Jew, I wonder, will this poisonous anti Semitism ever end, or will it persist, even if there are few Jews around after the cataclysm of the day, of the times. Will we still continue to discriminate for color, for religion, for political belief, for anything and everything that annoys us?! Will we learn anything? Ever?
I hope and pray that this virus is corraled quickly and that we prepare for yet another and another and another as they come down the chute. Hopefully we will ease the situation we are now facing and set up parameters for the future, for a better and safer future. Hopefully within a month or two this will be tamed and life will return to normal, whatever that is. In the meanwhile, be careful, be safe, be watchful. And pray. Oh, lord, but do we need that!
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