Uncertainty

Here on April 14, 2020 there is a collective tension, an anxiety, and an eagerness to get our lives back to normal.

If someone credible were to give us a date on which we could turn the switch, well then, a lot of that tension and anxiety would dissipate. People would start the countdown to the liberation, smiling widely while marking the days off the calendar.

But there is no credible expert able and willing to predict that date, and that’s problematic. The uncertainty of how long this social distancing/economic shutdown/joblessness/coffin-stuffing crap will last weighs on us.

Never mind the uncertainty of what kind of world we will live in afterward, never mind the uncertainty of what the “new normal” might be. All of that is up for conjecture, but it’s the timing that’s on my mind today.

People can and will adapt to the new world order. Human history is full of examples to show that those of us who survive this virulent virus will go on and deal with whatever we must. We’ll collectively grit our teeth and put the poncho over our heads and not only face the storm but prevail.

People sentenced to prison can pretty much bank on an end date. Military service has a discharge date attached. No matter how shitty the day, prisoners and soldiers can remind themselves that they have “only X days/weeks/months/years to go.” Having an end date is comforting.

When Hitler was bombing the crap out of London, the residents had no way to know how long that would last, didn’t know if the next barrage would score a direct hit on their own bomb shelter, didn’t know if the Germans would invade and enslave them. Know what they did? They gritted their teeth, put the poncho over their heads and not only faced the storm but prevailed.

So I don’t want to hear any whining.