Thank you, Coronavirus, for saving us from War!
As I write this, amidst the Coronavirus pandemic, the U.N. Secretary General has just called for a world-wide ceasefire, saying: “The fury of the virus illustrates the folly of war. That is why today, I am calling for an immediate global ceasefire in all corners of the world.”
Great words, indeed! So let me add my take on it… as I am sitting locked down at home with my family, children — scratching my head about tomorrow, thinking how to adjust to this new reality — and it’s not easy! and I have no clear answer — suddenly another question pops up: “yes, it’s not easy now — for you, for me, for anyone — but do we really want to go back to the ‘normal’ world the way it was before the pandemic?”
“Hell, no!” — I jump up surprised by my own thought, as if my thinking left the usual bounds within the sphere of my precious personal interests. I am immediately frightened by this thought — yes, I’ve got plenty to lose — after all, so far, I’ve had a truly comfortable life here in the sunny South of England!
“Hell, no!” that unlikely and chilling answer is still clinging on — all because of this tiny virus that has made us feel so inter-connected, so much closer to each other, to all the other people “in all corners of the world” (to borrow the Secretary General’s words), closer like never before — as if it gave me a new way of thinking and a new sensation that includes the interests of others, the interests of all humanity.
And what a sensation it is! At least for now, while the pandemic is still raging, my thoughts happen to include, for instance, all those hundreds of thousands of people who have been killed in wars in the last couple of years! To include their families, their friends! “Killed in wars in the last couple of years” — I’ve never checked these statistics before — “hundreds of thousands”, that’s in the state-based military conflicts, because in the non-state military conflicts the casualties are more numerous. “Normal” world! My comforting notion of “going back to it” is up for re-assessment! This teeny weeny virus just gave me this time, time to lock down, to sit down, to re-assess — in spite of all the running and all the screaming of my children around me as they turn our house upside down — this is the time to make my choice! For myself, for my children, for all of humanity, for the world we have turned upside down (well before the virus). “No, there is no going back!”, not to the world in which we are destroying nature at an unprecedented rate, threatening the survival of millions of species and that of our own, “No!” to our self-centred, consumerist approach that ultimately makes us all live in a constant fear of a global war, or a global natural disaster! “Hell, no!”
So here is my take on it: although it will take more than a message from the U.N. Secretary General to stop all the problems on our conflict-ridden planet, perhaps even more than one virus — in case we need more time to sit down and re-assess! I have just been given a chance! Through this pandemic, I have been given a novel way of thinking, the one that includes the interests of all humanity! It made me realize that learning to build caring and mutually supportive relationships between all people “in all corners of the world” might be just the right starting point for the new world ahead — and I want to give it a try!
The pandemic will certainly end, but may these words come true — thank you, Coronavirus, for saving us from War!
