The Upside of Corona

“Maybe the Coronavirus is teaching us how to be human again.” This epidemic has so many helpful lessons.

About five days ago, I started getting chest pains. I’m coughing a lot right now and it scares the crap out of me.

I’ve never had these symptoms before. They normally would be forgotten about — not while living through the Coronavirus, though. Panic looks like writing more, you know, just in case. Fear looks like teaching in disguise through writing.

Right now the streets in my hometown of Melbourne are empty. Businesses are shut and people are at home. (What’s often forgotten though is that the homeless shelters are shut too. That means people who don’t have homes, well, they don’t have access to the privilege of self-isolation — a thought to ponder before you consider complaining.)

I flicked on Youtube before and watched Jimmy Fallon At Home. It was this weird experience where all the fancy lighting, band, graphic titles, pre-rehearsed performances, jokes, guest interviews booked months in advance, and production were stripped away. Jimmy Fallon without all of the razzle-dazzle is much like you and I. His show represents the type of Youtube channel all of us could put together and that is an interesting idea.

Whether you are on TV or working a regular job — this epidemic is stripping us back to the basics of what it means to be human. It’s becoming a level playing field again with everybody just trying to survive.

I rang my friend yesterday who comes from a wealthy family. He has been in and out of homelessness for many years, yet his old man is worth several hundred million dollars.

I asked him what his dad was up to. He said, “Dad is locked up at home in his mansion with a year’s supply worth of food and his brand new Rolls Royce parked permanently in the driveway.”

If I ever become that guy, boy will I be disappointed. While his own flesh and blood struggles to battle through this pandemic, he still lets his millions of dollars prevent him from living life and solely existing. If he’s not careful, he may die with loads of money and nothing of human value to show for it.

Thankfully, my friend and his challenging and ongoing situation that his father ignores hasn’t dampened his spirits. Despite being a lifelong smoker, diabetic, and regular sufferer of pneumonia, he remains optimistic. He has decided to start an internet business selling meat during corona times.

A family member bought twelve rolls of toilet paper yesterday. During times of the Corona, this would seem like a huge win. Toilet paper feels better than the taste of beer for a lifelong Australian beer connoisseur.

What came next, though, was interesting:

“Yeah, I gave six of the twelve rolls of toilet paper away to our neighbor.”

“Why did you do that?” I asked curiously.

“They have none and we have plenty.”

Right there is one of the biggest upsides of the Coronavirus. People are realizing they have enough. People are stepping up to the plate in small and interesting ways — and often, not even realizing it!

My colleague at work was right —

Comradery will thrive during these uncertain times.

Yesterday, when everybody was asleep, I went for a walk while social distancing. Being outside never felt like a privilege before. The air was clean from the Australian Bushfire smoke and exhaust pollution created by cars. The fresh air felt so much better than stale apartment air.

When I came back home, I spent the day on the phone to people actually talking. Often it was via a video call too. Normally, the majority of interactions would happen via text in between “how r u” and “call u later.”

Lazy communication is getting replaced with a thirst for real-world conversations again.

Why text when you can connect with a person and hear their voice? Maybe we’ve been doing it all wrong.

Maybe the Coronavirus is teaching us how to be human again.

I don’t know how this time in human history ends. The Coronavirus is challenging every one of us collectively. We are being thrown out of our routines, forced to change, and to remember how important it is to help our neighbors. Epidemics and financially challenging times teach us to tap into our unlimited potential again.

Creativity is thriving. Beauty is everywhere in the stories of complete strangers. Love is keeping us together. And as one race and one species, you can learn to live with this situation and even thrive because of it.

When a virus punches the world in the face, we respond with unity. That’s the giant upside of the Coronavirus.

You will be okay. Help anybody you can with whatever you have to offer. These are the stories we will tell our great-grandkids one day. Make this phase of your life into a story of hope for future generations.

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