Dissonance

CoVID-19  Day 42

While this pandemic has put everything in stark relief, the short memory of the public and its gravity towards messages of comfort and national pride continually dull its perceptivity and grind off the rough edges. While we each can generally hold two conflicting realities in tension there is inevitable public consensus in what is often referred to as the narrative. It’s that narrative upon which our government relies because without the binder labelled “We are beating this”, written in indelible ink, the loose pages would tell a confused and shocking story. The solidarity with front line workers and agreement that we should continue the lock down are both brittle and precarious.

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unless we address the future while dealing with the now
the future present will be worse

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The enemy is silent and invisible and regardless of the education we’ve received about the Coronavirus it’s difficult for us to grasp what it really is. Maybe the most dangerous thing about a virus is that we have nothing physical we can liken it to. Without tangible evidence, public support relies on trust and past experience.

The problem with social isolation is that we have to process a collective problem individually and that takes its toll. We all process it differently, some struggling most with introspection while others face physical challenges of shared space, family dynamics and critical problems like financial and employment insecurity. If we are to emerge as a better society there needs to be a common understanding of what that society looks like but that requires we step back from the immediate challenge that turns our thoughts inwards. That’s a hard sell.

What is comforting to malign forces that are determined to make hay in this almost permanent sunshine is that the fragmentation of society they have so successfully achieved over the last few decades makes it so much easier for them to impose hideous sanctions because there is no collective opposition.

For those who seek a new future, what’s comforting is the evidence exposed by the pandemic that refutes the validity of the pragmatism that’s been drilled into us. The problem is that in order to fight for a better future, those dissonant truths and rough edges need to be foremost in the public consciousness, overriding the desire to go back to any kind of normal. It means society has to embrace the pain, not self medicate. It means we refuse to accept all hollow declarations of victory. At best we will be survivors.

We will deal with the the present (well, poorly or abysmally) whatever is thrown at us because we have to. But unless we address the future while dealing with the now (and that’s not necessarily an exit strategy) the future present will be worse.

For me, I’m learning to confront my demons; those irritating, nagging parasites that feed off all negativity. They say what doesn’t kill you makes you stronger but the latter doesn’t inevitably follow the former. Such facile motivational phrases belie the depth of work you need to put in to prove them true or otherwise. What doesn’t kill you can make you weaker too.

I’ll let the sun cheer me and help me live in the moment while I square up to what I don’t want to face and enjoy what gifts life gives me. Happy Sunday.