I Hope

Dear Readers in this horrible springtime of pandemic,

Right now is the most terrifying period I can think of in my five-plus decades on this earth. The corona virus COVID-19 is a threat to all humans all around the earth, with no one being spared because of their location, their race, their religion, their national origin, or any other characteristic that people may think makes them superior to others or immune from others' concerns and problems. President Trump may call this a "Chinese virus" because of his habitual tendency to always seek a way to express hostility toward non-white peoples, having found that his more ardent followers will applaud loudly and almost orgasmically for his racist smears and ethnic scapegoating. However, in this crisis, I see hope that this racist tribalism may be one of the primary casualties of COVID-19,  and that we are going to see a new consciousness of the need for global human solidarity rising up from the ashes of a broken world. It is becoming more and more clear that international cooperation, not petty name-calling, race-baiting and blame-shifting, is needed to cope with this mass suffering. Leaders who rally their entire populations--ALL of their people, not just this or that racial or ethnic group--for an all-hands-on-deck effort, the only kind that can be effective in confronting a pandemic, and who work together with other governments and with international organizations and experts are the ones who will be viewed as true heroes and people of courage, compassion and wisdom, not those who rant and rave about building walls, scorning international agreements, and seeking isolation. We are of course seeing a period of closed borders right now, understandable as both a psychological and prophylactic response to this sudden, horrifying, crisis, but we are also seeing the need for countries to help each other with medical expertise and equipment, with financial burden-sharing, and other matters. It is becoming increasingly clear to most people that we really ARE all in this together.

I also see hope that this horrible collective experience will be the end of right-wing opposition to large government programs, as everyone now, of whatever political stripe, is seeing the need for huge government programs to save the economy from total collapse and large segments of the population from poverty and panic.  Furthermore, unlike the financial crisis of 2008 when many governments only seemed interesting in bailing out large business corporations, this time everyone can see that we have to provide financial support to ALL of the people who are losing their jobs and income, as the economy cannot function with a third of the population unemployed. Huge government aid programs to help the poor and stabilize the economy--isn't that the SOCIALISM that conservatives have always claimed would bring on the end of the world? Well, now that we are standing on the edge of a really terrifying social and economic precipice, it turns out that even the right-wing in many countries is suddenly in favor of massive government spending, without the usual hand-wringing about  "unsustainable government deficits," "moral hazard" and such. When push comes to shove, and society is on the brink, socialism is not such an evil force after all, though of course, the conservatives won't call this "socialism."  They'll find some euphemism like "corona capitalism," or maybe "free enterprise with collective characteristics."  In any case, a certain mental barrier has been breached. No longer will it be possible to say that the "magic of the market" can solve all problems, and that Big Government is Public Enemy #1. When the shit really hits the fan like it is now, there is in fact no alternative to Big Government, as big as possible; better still, international cooperation between all governments big and small.

I also see the possibility of a new spiritual horizon in the birthing. Many people are finding it a great solace now to be out in nature in whatever way they can manage, whether a walk down the street to a park, a stroll in the forest, or even just looking out their window and seeing a bird circling gracefully in a beautiful blue sky like a magical acrobat.  This may remind people of the sacred healing power of nature, and in a time when they are being forced to confront their own fragility in a world of biological organisms that all affect each other, inspire them to consider the need to better care for and protect nature, realizing we are all children of nature now desperate for our mother, this earth, to tell us that things will be OK.  This could be a moment of spiritual awakening as well as spur to new ecological activism. This could really be a positive turning point for humankind to reconsider many things and seek a better long-term path. I hope so.  I don't know if I will live to see it, as I am as scared of dying from this modern plague as anyone else, but I hope to.  And right now, that is a precious pair of words I will hold dear to my heart: I hope.