Look for the Learnings. Look for the Silver Linings

It occurred to me this morning that our children will look back on this as my generation looks back on 9-11 as the day the world changed. My hope is that what we learn from these trying times is the following:

1. We are all intricately connected around the world - so we have an awesome responsibility to care for and about each other

2. We have to move beyond the selfishness of "I" to the collectiveness of "US". (Interesting that V"I"R"US" has both in it.) No one person can win in an integrated system at the expense of others - it doesn't work that way. So if one person hoards supplies and others pay the price, even the hoarder has paid the price of a weakened system. Our society has been moving more and more towards the selfishness of "my rights" and "my convenience" and "my preferences" but the reality is that we are all connected and if "my rights" infringes on another person (which it will unless I live in a bubble" then we have to move back towards considering our impact on others. I may be healthy and at a low risk of getting sick but my actions could harm those around me who are at risk. If that happens that our collective healthcare system will be overburdened and break and so I still lose

If the outcome of this is a greater appreciation for "US" and a greater level of empathy for those around us then we will come out of this better than we went in.