The old normal is gone

Image by Gerd Altmann from Pixabay

"I want it to go back to normal."

How often have I said this? How often have all of you reading this asked this?

"I want to be able to go to a bar with friends. I want to have barbecues. I want to go and sit in front of a painting for an hour at a museum and soak in beauty."

I don't want a 200-person party at my house. (Not that I ever would. And my brother and wife would kill me if I did.) But I want to be able to have my mother over to my house for Thanksgiving. That's out. I want to get together with my family for Christmas Eve. We've all agreed not this year. I want to be able to go back to the library and revel in the cast of characters who visit us. Probably not until next summer.

We all want "normalcy". But what if that normalcy is gone, and not to return?

We may have to acknowledge that life before 2020 is not going to come back. Oh, it will have some of the same trappings. But the sureties which seemed as certain as the Rock of Gibraltar are gone. 

What we're faced with is that which human beings fear the most: Change.

There are those who huff: "Oh, nothing will change." But everything has already changed.

The Black Death of the 14th century began the process of radical change in Europe. It led to the death of feudalism, as societies rebuilt after the pestilence. It led to the birth of the modern world: one in which ordinary people hold power, whether or not they realize it. A staid and static world gave way to one which birthed capitalism and scientific progress.

Of course, COVID isn't as deadly as the bubonic plague. But it didn't have to be. It's effect will be even more rupturing than that of the Black Death, mostly because of instant communication. 

Governments all over the world have failed their citizens. Most of them are subject to public scorn. Some will survive; but they've failed their primary mission, the social compact under which they all operate, which is to protect their citizens.

Of course, those citizens share more than a bit of the blame. Especially in the West, those citizens have been gravitating towards extremes which promise to explain and fix why their lives aren't golden. But populism has no answer for an epidemic. Viruses care not one whit that you want to ban immigrants, or oppress minority communities. And while some communities are more hard-hit than others due to racial and social disparities, everyone has to pay the piper.

So, if the old normal is gone, what is to replace it?

Well, that's pretty much up to us.

I'm not sanguine. Seventy-three million voters chose to continue and enhance the past four years. However, they were outvoted. They were defeated in this battle. That means something. That means more than a bit.

The change engendered by the bubonic plague took centuries to work out. But in our world, change comes at a lightning pace. We have it in our power to effect changes which will benefit all of humanity, rich and poor, white and non-white. And have no doubt: Our adversaries know this as well, and are working to effect their change.

This is a reminder that electing Joe Biden is not the end to the war. It's merely the beginning of a new campaign. To think otherwise is to live in a fool's paradise. But, ultimately, for good and for ill, we have the power. Kings and emperors, counts and samurais, are gone. The world is ours to make of it what we will.