A Better "Normal"? How I Hope the Pandemic Changes Things
Photo by Yanny Mishchuk on Unsplash
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It has been more than a month since my wife received notice that her work conference in Arizona was postponed. After that, things got crazy.
In the days following, we have seen some incredible things happen from a global scale all the way to the local level. So much has changed, in fact, that “normal” as we understand it may be no more. I posted this on social media on April 11:
What does “normal” actually mean? It seems like all I’ve heard for the last few weeks. When will things go back to normal? “Normal” is completely relative. Will stores, parks, beaches, hunting and fishing regulations, schools, government operations, jobs, churches, and all the other parts of “normal” life return to “normal”? I think some of them will return to very nearly what we have grown used to. Others won’t. There will be a new “normal.” Some of it will be completely different than what we were accustomed to before COVID-19.
This Easter was the first time in my life I have not been physically present in a church for the Sunday morning service. My wife and I have had to stop ourselves and ask, “Do we really need this from town?” We have had to be careful about seeing family members, even though we felt like there was no way they had been exposed. Play equipment at the local park has been blocked off or taken down. Fishing locations have been stripped of fish because of state agencies revoking the requirement for a fishing license.
I’ll be honest. I downplayed all of this in the beginning, but now I see that the security we as a culture have built to preserve our lifestyles is unbelievably fragile. Have I become a conspiracy theorist who is going to be heading into full survival mode? No. I don’t believe we are to that point yet.
I feel like the craziness of all of this is slowly drifting away now, but I have found my mind and heart drifting lately. I think it’s a healthy longing. It’s something I’ve taken for granted pre-COVID-19. It’s a new sensitivity to peace and order. It is a desire for less. I’m beginning to savor more textures and quality within this new “normal.” My morning coffee tastes better as I write. The Redbud blooms seem brighter than before. I find myself internally celebrating more when I see others winning.
When I’m in the field scouting or hunting now, it seems like I can hear better. I think it’s because I’m listening more closely. To find something special, like a new Morel, or to see a patch of Mayapple leaves glistening in the morning sunlight, is a fresh joy unlike any other time I can remember. A turkey’s gobble isn’t just a trigger for me to pursue, but it’s a burst of energy that is satisfying to my ears and mind, just as the first sharp rays of light that run the cold new morning through.
What is most infuriating to me is how easily this sensitivity is lost, and how complacent we can become about it. God didn’t make these things to just be overlooked. He uses these things in creation as a starting point for my mind to start over. And that just points to my great need for that sensitivity to be present.
I don’t feel like I need to dive into my personal opinion about the nuances of this pandemic and the impact it has had. What I do feel needs to be said is that this has been a time to test the quality of our judgment and whether or not we have become far too desensitized to the most beneficial things.
Part of the fallen human condition is the desire to want what we shouldn’t have had from the beginning. We want the approval of other people we will never meet and who would never give us a second thought. We want things that will only serve the purpose we have dreamed up, and then we acquire it and it collects dust. What if the new normal could change at least part of that?
I hope this pandemic teaches us a great deal about how fragile we, and the structures we have built around us for security are. I hope we never forget what walking around in a society of fear looks like and how unbelievably foolish it is. I hope “normal” becomes more like putting important things first, rather than depending on others to take care of them for us.
I hope “normal” means knowing when to slow down to rest and when to bear down and get the job done before time runs out. I hope we become more thankful for truly good and worthwhile things like family, honesty, hard work, and building up. I hope tearing down, laziness, half-truths, and loneliness become taboo rather than glorified. I hope we learn how much we can live without and what we absolutely can’t. When will all this end? God knows. Will things ever be like they were before? Probably not entirely. Will we be able to cope? Yes.
We just need to take it all one day at a time.
