Mar 18, 2020 2 min read Humanity

A Novel Pandemic — How a Virus Could Unite Humanity

I’m seeing hints of the possibility that the COVID-19 pandemic could become an exceptional social experiment, one that could have political ramifications — a kind of socialism-light — one that exposes the damaging problem of aggressive capitalism (the impossibility of sustained perpetual growth).

The lesson we can bear witness to as this pandemic evolves is that we are all in this world together now. We have to work together as a community, fostering connections and care around the world. This pandemic may be the crisis we need to positively affect climate change, social evolution, income equality, healthcare equality, and human rights.

Think Queerly Podcast — TQ120 Show Notes

“Capitalism must expand or lapse into crisis. But an economy dependent on perpetual growth must, at some stage, come into conflict with the limits of the natural world…. Capitalism pits humanity against nature. It will destroy both, if we let it.”
Source

“Let’s call the shutdowns and closures and cancellations what they really are: acts of deep love for others, and deep self-love. We are protecting those at risk; we are protecting ourselves. This is beautiful.”
Shaun Proulx, See the The Beauty Inside The Covid-19 Pandemic

Simple acts humanitarian kindness

Offer to help others in your neighbourhood who are immune-compromised and/or unable to go out to buy groceries or get their medications.
Teach a fitness class on a rooftop to apartment dwellers or a yoga class in a Facebook live video:

Offer your services for free to those in need that can be done virtually.
Celebrate your talent if you are a singer or musician and entertain your neighbours using social-distance, like from your balcony:

Call, Skype, or write a letter to someone you love, care about, or had a falling out with. Tell them how much you appreciate them and the impact they have had on your life and well-being.
My partner and I will celebrate St. Patrick’s Day later today safely isolated at home while Face-timing with friends who we would have otherwise been hanging out with at the local queer watering hole!

We need to understand the world through better mental models that help us understand how we are all connected. An excellent person to follow, who is writing every day about his observations on the pandemic and how we can make better choices based on personal responsibility and how we think, is Steve Pavlina.

Journal! Make a record for posterity

Most likely nothing like this has ever happened in your lifetime. I have never walked down near-empty streets and seen stores, restaurants, and schools closed, and very few other people or traffic at what should be very busy times of the day.

Make a permanent record of what is happening right now so that you can look back upon this moment and reflect when it’s all over. The social changes we are witnessing do not have to be forgotten, instead, they can be a beacon for a better society that evolves as a result of this pandemic.