Week #2 Of The New Life

We are starting the second week of life in our new world. So far, the economic impact of the pandemic has not hit us personally. Our position in life has so far shielded us from that. But that means that we should be using our economic privilege to help others until we need help. We have plans for providing extra help to some in need.

Our next responsibility is to stay home as much as possible. So we have designated a day for our weekly food shopping and a day for getting supplies for others. The wife has picked certain times in the day for doing that would reduce the chances that we could pick up the virus from shopping. We also visit our son's family since they have a newborn child. We go over there to provide food and assistance.  In addition, I plan to pick up a pizza once a week to support one of my favorite local restaurants. Plus doing so cuts down on trips to the grocery store.

Our position in life allows us to stay home a lot. But not all either enjoy that luxury or choose to take advantage of their position in life to stay home. The latter is especially true with some from the Millennial generation.

It is easy to get angry at those Millennials who are defying the strong recommendations to stay home. Some struggle with significant loneliness while others are just selfish. Which is which cannot be told by appearance. And thus we should not be overly eager to judge them by jumping to conclusions.

Of course, there is another reason why some of us should refrain from rushing to judge Millennials for their actions. That reason is that it is my generation that raised these people. We can't criticize our children without first looking in the mirror to see how are parenting might have contributed to their decisions to ignore what doctors are saying.

In addition, baby boomers, like myself, need to look at our own history of ignoring sound advice. In particular, it was my generation that reveled in free love and drugs. And both merit a Surgeon General's warning label.

Also, as a Christian, this time period makes me aware of how strong some of my worldly attachments are. And I worry about those around me and close friends who are physically vulnerable to suffering the worst consequences of the virus.

However, life for many of us revolves around our mobility. And now much of that has been taken away. And adjusting to this new world, which has an indefinite duration, can be tense. Then there is the post-pandemic world that awaits us. And one of the most important factors in that new world is how our new economy will affect us.

Perhaps with all that has been taken away from us, we need to look at what we can carry into the new post-pandemic world that awaits us. Hopefully we will carry a new solidarity with, and appreciation of others when we enter that new world. What we miss from the old world can be compensated for by the solidarity we gain from our current plight.

Almost finally, we have been told that social distancing is the key to everyone's well being and perhaps the survival of some. But I remember some Leftists coming up with a better expression. What we need to do now is to promote social solidarity with physical  distancing.

Finally, a link to the Rotterdam Philharmonic Orchestra with a portion of Beethoven's 9th symphony as played from the Orchestra members' homes. This is a gift from them to all of us. It is a facebook link so you might need to login to facebook to access it (click here for the performance).