Possibility and Probability

A Python programmer with a personality thinking about space exploration

4 April 2020

Here and now for a better tomorrow

by Nick

In my town, the conronavirus has really changed the way life is lived. We have some cases here, but nothing like other parts of the world.

The fear (or even just “respect”) for the damage the virus can cause has led us to be sheltered at home for close to 2 weeks now. Going out is extremely limited and always an interesting experience. People are nervous, tempers are short, but for the most part held in check.

As I look around and see people keeping their social distance and being more thoughtful about their purchases (e.g. “Let’s get food to last” instead of “Let’s get food to gorge ourselves on”) I can’t help but wonder, what will the future look like?

Right here and right now people (again, in my town) seem to be doing the right thing. The people I’ve talked with are doing the right thing, even if we are getting incomplete/incorrect information from those in leadership positions. Everyone is focusing on making sure they have the necessities, and then staying home.

In the future…

I know that once the danger passes that life will return to “normal” for a lot of folks fairly quickly. I hope that a few things stay with us though:

Preparedness

Being prepared has a lot of different looks. For me a big one is just having the essentials like food and water to last a few days if one is “cut off” from the world for some reason.

Other types of preparedness the virus has exposed us to are important and I hope people now see them:

Patience

This crisis has an interesting angle in that everyone is in it together. Even those that refuse to acknowledge it.

And although people could give into their fears and panic, most people have held it together and worked as a group to get along.

Before, people were pretty impatient because everyone was looking out for their own and in a hurry to get it done. Nowadays we all seem to understand than now is a time to slow down and help those around us. Patience is a big part of that.

Slowing down

Because we are “locked down” we have less places we need to go. More time is being spent in one place.

I have noticed the longer I’m in one spot, say a waiting room, or just sitting in nature, the more I notice the small things around me.

I hope others are experiencing this now.

I know that the traffic seems to be a lot better, although there are still some horrible drivers out there.

Taking care of our environment

This ties into the slowing down thought: if you are paying more attention to what is around you, won’t you work a little harder to keep it nice?

With the decrease in travel (commuting and otherwise) the pollution levels have fallen everywhere. Wouldn’t it be nice if it was always like that?

Things like commuting less, using different transportation (electric cars, mass transit) seem like great ways to kick this off.

Those are just some of my thoughts

What are yours? What can you do to make something better in the future?

tags: thinking