A Return to Normal? Easter Reflections

Back to normal? Apart from watching the increasing number of deaths and confirmed cases, when we can back to "normal" seems to be the biggest question on everyone's mind. How much longer until I can get back to the life that I had on January 24th, the last day that I picked up my daughter from school, and I didn't have to wear a face mask when out in a crowded area? Will a "normal" life resume on May 1? That looks highly unlikely. Will it be on June 25th, the day of our scheduled flight from Macau to the US? The odds for that happening are decreasing. Will it be on August 19, the first scheduled day of classes at the University of Macau? Even that day seems too soon. The consensus emerging from experts in public health, and something that I said in January when I saw how rapidly covid-19 was spreading in China, is that "normal" cannot resume until a vaccine is developed and widely available. And even then, everyone will still have to be careful to avoid contracting or spreading this disease. If not, we could see another spike in cases resulting in thousands or millions of deaths.

All of these reflections are not pleasant to contemplate. The mood of this time is akin to a "Tantalean punishment" named after the myth of the Greek god, Tantalus. He could see good things in front of him, but could never reach or enjoy them. We can see an end to the restrictions of covid-19, and in our minds imagine a different kind of life, but we can never reach them. 

So how do we cope? How do we get through the coming days, weeks, months, and perhaps years until covid-19 is under control? Writing this on Easter Sunday brings to mind the story of this day, that in the city of Jerusalem a man who died as a convicted criminal, hung on a cross, was buried in a tomb; on the third day he was not in the grave. His followers, the disciples, could not find him. But they and others, beyond anything that they could imagine or hope for, met him as one beyond the grave, a man who had conquered death. They then went on to spread news of this man, and what he did, and it changed the world. 

Easter is the ultimate story of hope. While we are in the "grave" of covid-19, there will someday come a time when we are released from this grave, to experience a different life. This new life will NOT be like the old. We will always remember this time, and be much more careful in our daily interactions, washing our hands frequently, keeping a supply of masks at hand, aware of our social distance, monitoring our temperature, and the health of those around us. We can imagine that these new behaviors will stay with us for years, decades to come. 

But maybe, we will become better people. This is the first "social media" pandemic in human history. We can go online, watch the news, and see video, text, images, reports of people across the globe who are experiencing the challenge of this same illness. While it is unfortunate that the poorest people suffer the most, and underlying health problems lead to serious illness and death at higher rates than others. It is also the case that wealth, nationality, age, social status, gender, race or ethnicity, do not fully protect anyone from getting sick. This virus attacks all human beings. So we are all in this together. Let's keep this important truth in mind when we someday do return to normal.