I had planned to write about revolution this week. I was going to make the case that we’ve been fed a diet of reform as a solution by our governments for wicked problems such as social inequality, climate change, the global obsession with growth and GDP. After that I was going to refer you to this piece written in 1896 and hopefully get everyone riled up so we can all take to the streets. But then I came across this article, and while the argument for revolution feels tenuous (sorry Simon) and the possibility of revolution unlikely, the piece made point about COVID that knocked the cynicism out of me and made me proud of humanity for the first time in a long while. COVID has shown us that we can still do hard things.
Things are tough, but we’re getting through it
Between February and April the Corona virus, as it was known back then, was described by many as our generation’s version of the World Wars. Even the UN Secretary General, António Guterres declared that this was our greatest test since World War Two. I’m not going to debate the legitimacy of the comparison. Instead I want to focus on the size of the challenge we believed we faced and the fact that we changed our lives to address the challenge.
I live in Sydney, Australia. We were in lockdown for the greater part of two months. What I remember most about that time was a constant and insidious anxiety that blanketed almost every moment. It was fear wrapped in stress, hiding behind long conversations with my wife as to how we manage schooling our kids from home, how we share our home office space, do masks work or not, and who should go to the shops to buy food. Our world became very small very quickly and family and friends were suddenly impossibly far away.
Our neighbours in Victoria went through one of the world’s longest COVID-19 lockdowns. In Melbourne, Victoria’s state capital, the lockdown lasted 112 days (restrictions were lifted 3 days ago). I can’t start to imagine how hard those 112 days were, and how hard it still is to live in that city.
Around the world people have experienced the consequences of the pandemic in different ways. Some have suffered more than others. Over 1 million people have lost their lives to the virus. Mainland Europe is entering a second-wave lockdown as I write this. We will live with this virus for years to come. Furthermore, the full affects of the associated recession that accompanies our battle with this virus have not being realised yet. The only thing we know for certain is that life is hard and will more than likely be hard and uncertain for some.
And we’re doing it. We’re doing the hard things.
This could be the turning point where we prove to ourselves that we can do what’s needed
I’m not saying that the way we’re dealing with the virus is right; that’s not the point of this article. Instead, I want to acknowledge that we as humanity can still do things we don’t want to do when we have to. As long as there is a real threat, and we have people who are knowledgeable and respected explaining what needs to be done and why, we will rise up for what we believe to be the greater good, and do what is needed.
And that gives me hope that we can. That we can change, we can work together, we can still endure hardship, and that we can still care for one another.
With what has happened I hope we find our confidence again and that we believe once more that we are capable of creating a better future for ourselves and our children. Let’s not forget what we’ve endured, instead, let’s roll up our sleeves and face up to climate change, social inequality, discrimination, the erosion of democracy, extreme poverty, ecological decimation, our addiction to growth, and say, ‘okay, let’s do this’.