Above Else You Are Still Here

Soon, we will reach the official two-year mark of the pandemic. Technically, the pandemic began months before the first rumors of a government-ordered quarantine. The New York Times reported the first COVID-19 case reached the United States on January 21, 2020. Even before this documented case, the virus was roaming around unsuspectingly infecting people who just assumed they had a common cold or flu. It was flu season, after all. At this moment, there was so much we did not know. 

We thought the shutdown would only last two weeks. About a month later, we realized this would have a lasting effect. Months after that, we realized life would not return to normal. We questioned, what is normal? Is "normal" even something we want to return? Midway through that year, after George Floyd's murder, we agreed "normal" was not good enough. Normal was expecting another death at the hands of the police. 

"Things are changing now, too. Our adults haven’t been wiped out by a plague so they’re still anchored in the past, waiting for the good old days to come back. But things have changed a lot and they’ll change more. Things are always changing. This is just one of the big jumps instead of little step by step changes that are easier to take. People have changed the climate of the world. Now they’re waiting for the old days to come back." - The Parable of The Sower

A year and a half ago, I read the Parable of the Sower and wrote about it my second newsletter. This snippet from the main character felt appropriate then and now. The book follows Lauren, a teenager living through a dystopian society with food shortages, crime, and global warming set in 2024. Octavia Butler, writing this story in the '90s, could not have possibly predicted a plague in 2020 that would last two years. She had the foresight to know change is constant. 

But, what is our "new normal"? More flexibility? A lack of stability? Adaption to change as the environment around us does? Adjusting to an ever-present unknown? A new world order? A just society? Supply chain issues and inflation? The twisted reality of a metaverse?

Frankly, it is still too early to tell, though patterns have begun to emerge. The pandemic forced us to prioritize who and what are the most valuable aspects of our lives. We faced difficult decisions. We chose what stayed. We also eliminated what did not serve us. 

The pandemic created a condition unseen before. "Unprecedented" was the word consistently repeated. Sure, there were diseases, like the Spanish flu, that replicated a similar environment, but nothing like the multilayered ecosystem we have today.  So much has changed within this two year timeframe. 

Through all of this change, you are resilient. You did adapt. Two years later, with all of the opposition you faced, you're still here. We lived through a constant reminder of death and mortality. We lived through isolation and redefining community. We are living through love and gratitude. And, with God's grace, we are still here with breath in our lungs and a mind that can reason.