“When it comes to life the critical thing is whether you take things for granted or take them with gratitude.”
-Gilbert Chesterton
For the sake of this article, I need you to remember that I am not a medicine expert, and therefore cannot give my opinion on how the Coronavirus should be dealt with.
With the announcement last Thursday of the beginning of stage 3 on a nationwide level in order to fight the spread of the Coronavirus (or COVID-19 for short), France is now officially added to the list of countries that are on lock down, along with China, Taiwan, Italy, Spain, the United States and Lebanon. Lock down measures imply for all citizens to self-isolate and stay at home, only go out for emergency needs, shutdown of all unnecessary public places as well as bars, employees working from home until further notice.
Life as we know it is no longer the same, and it will probably with this new face for a while. Under these new circumstances, we are starting to discover a way of life that we have rarely experienced on a daily basis. Previously, we would only spend an entire day at home doing nothing in order to recover from a long week at work. Such days would be our lazy days in order to calm down from all this overactivity happening in our lives. New conditions are arising in that particular phase that humanity – as well as the entire planet – is going through.
Parents are going to spend their entire days with their children in their laps, as well as trying to balance it all with their work through remote access. Couples will now only be able to see and talk to each other through video calls and text messages. Several people are also stocking up huge amounts of groceries as they expect the lockdown to last up to two months, if not longer, making it look like times of war and famine. Athletes can no longer go to the gym or to practices in order to work out. Friends cannot go out to the movies anymore, or even on roadtrips, camps, dinners or parties together anymore.
“The only thing that is balck and white is that you do not have to walk alone this time. I see the hope in your heart.”
-Avicii’s Broken Arrows
Despite the seriousness of the outbreak of this new virus, there are still some positive things that we can look at as a prelude for better things to come. For example, since the virus outbreak has forced several countries to go on lockdown and citizens to stay at home, pollution is decreasing at unprecedented rates. This would be the case in China, where images show blue skies for the first time in years, due to the absence of air pollution from cars and factories. This has also become the case in Italy, where air pollution has dramatically dropped as well.
“People say that you do not know what you have until it’s gone, but the truth is you never thought that you would ever lose it.”
-Taylor Swift
Under another angle, this new way of life can be seen as an opportunity to focus again on the more important things in life. The things we tend to consider givens and unimportant in our lives. The things we used to do every day as part of a routine, and now will not be able to experience for an unknown period of time.
In his message to people living in the North of Italy, Jorge Mario Bergoglio demanded that we remain hopeful that things will soon get better again, by reminding ourselves of the beautiful things that we used to enjoy every day. It is the feeling of longing to get back to those we care about the most that keeps us going. Some things that hope is a dangerous thing – and they might be right about it -, but it is the ability to get back up and look up when our face is in the dirt that keeps us human, full of life and love. This can also help family members to get to know each other on à more intimate level, without any external pressure from society, work or school.
The phase we find ourselves in today can be seen as a test for each of us, an internal conscience examination. This is a way for us to really know what matters in our lives, what truly motivates us to get out of bed in the morning.
Imagine living in a world where everyone becomes cold and just gives up at the first fall.I know that I would not want to live in such a world.
Thankfully, we have not lost the things we usually take for granted. We will see our parents again. We will be able to kiss our significant other again. We will fill the streets, cinemas, gyms, restaurants and football fields again. We will travel and discover the world again. We will not have to tell people that we love through text messages anymore. We will not have to check up on our friends and families through phone calls anymore. We will connect again with each other, without the use of WiFi or mobile data.
I will end this article with this beautiful caption which accompanied its featured image when I saw it for the first time on Instagram, after the end of Avengers: Infinity War.
“The sun will shine on us again.”
Change The Lens 