Humanity In The Raw

If you’re like me, you may be experiencing a surplus of anxiety in these last couple of days. This surge is, of course, due to the current state of not only our country, but the entire globe. The coronavirus pandemic has disrupted the ins and outs of our every day lives in a way that I don’t think anyone has ever experienced. It truly feels like we are living in a narrative that we only see in fictional movies or tv series; ones that we always imagined would be terrifying, but dismissed as “never going to happen” scenarios. Movies like The Hunger Games and Contagion, while TV series like The Handmade’s Tale and Black Mirror, come to mind.

Although we are not experiencing any of those fictional scenarios exactly, our current moment certainly serves as uncharted territory just as all of those fictional tales portrayed. There is so much confusion and fear circulating in our communities, leaving a number of us feeling helpless. Not to mention, any sign of a runny nose, cough, or fever, presents the opportunity for any one of us to spiral out of control.

We all know that we have been called to help the country by social distancing and self quarantining. This is the most pivotal piece in helping to reduce the spread of this virus. We have been instructed on a federal level to keep our socialization to a maximum of 10 people if a gathering is necessary, while some state governments have gone even further by imposing shelter in place laws that require people to stay put.

For all of us, this is a seismic change in how we are accustomed to living our lives. Land of the free means just that; freedom. We are all feeling the effects of this familiar autonomy to live as we please being stripped from us. In this moment, we are not afforded the ability to have dinner at our favorite local pizza spot; a tradition we repeat every Friday or Saturday night. We are not able to show up to our place of work; a space that so often serves as a person’s great escape. Parents are not able to send their kids to school; too frequently the only place a child is guaranteed breakfast and lunch. We are beyond lucky to live in a country that allows us such freedoms on a daily basis, so adjusting to this new lifestyle may feel incredibly invasive for some. For others, it may even seem unfair. I can understand these sentiments, as I have had many moments of feeling frustrated, scared, and uncertain towards the entire experience.

However, while I believe wholeheartedly in freedom, I believe even more in unity. This pandemic has required this country to come together in a way that I have never seen in my 31 years. This virus has demanded that we all consider those other than ourselves. The elderly, the immunocompromised, and the really young. Lack of consideration and people having the inability to tap into empathy is so often what drives wedges around the world. It’s what drives inequality and marginalization. According to the Merriam-Webster dictionary, empathy is this: the action of understanding, being aware of, being sensitive to, and vicariously experiencing the feelings, thoughts, and experience of another of either the past or present. Without the entire world empathizing for both family and strangers alike, this virus beats us. Without every single one of us considering the well-being of others, we are overcome by a sickness that knows no bounds.

Potentially that is the most important take-away from all of this madness. While our world is full of tiered classes, majorities and minorities, the powerful and the underprivileged; this virus is blind to it all. You cannot purchase your way out of contracting COVID-19 and you cannot blame it on being a part of a marginalized community. This has leveled the playing field in a way that presents the opportunity to unite us as one country; as one American team. If we can agree on anything, let it be this: the coronavirus pandemic must be beat.

And the only way that we squash this virus, the only way that we win this battle, is together. This is humankind in its most vulnerable state. By joining in solidarity and all staying socially distant, we actually have the ability to save THOUSANDS of lives. When in your own life have you ever been called to truly save another? In the entirety of your existence, you may never be afforded a chance such as this. My hope is simple: that you do not take the opportunity lightly.

Everyone, in some way or another, will be affected by this pandemic. Whether it is due to freedom-loss, job-loss, or the worst of them, human-loss; not a one of us will come out of this unscathed. Because of that, I hope that everyone, and I mean every single person, will allow this moment in time to settle into their memory bank. I hope that you’ll allow this fearful, yet unifying, time to weave into your heart. Let us not forget what it is like to have empathy for those around us; an empathy that does not see race, sex, gender identity, disability, or sexual orientation. May we always remember how we came together, both strangers and friends alike, to save each other’s lives. Do not allow yourself to forget all of the gratitude that you have experienced during this quarantine. Gratitude for your health. Gratitude for your loved ones. Gratitude for time to rest. What if we were to allow the universe to teach us a big lesson in all of this; a lesson that can only be taught under circumstances such as these.

Above all else, I hope that we refuse to take for granted the most important thing of all: our humanity. With overwhelming darkness comes overpowering light. We have seen that day in and day out of this pandemic; from citizens shopping for their elderly neighbors, to wealthy individuals giving to the less fortunate, to companies shutting their doors but ensuring pay for their employees. Finding the good in these trying times is what keeps our country moving forward. It is what reminds us that we belong to each other.

But perhaps what I am most hopeful for is this: the global realization that empathizing with humankind mustn’t stop with the return of normalization. That overpowering light that is shining so bright in our current state can, and should, spill over onto the next page of our existence. The buck does not stop once we regain our freedoms. The consideration for humanity need not disappear.

Imagine the kind of world we could cultivate if we take this experience with us into the next phase of our lives. Just consider what it looks like if we are to remind ourselves, with every precious handshake or warm embrace, that the person standing in front of us took part in saving our lives. In saving our family’s lives. What a beautiful world; one full of shared thankfulness.

There is a rainbow on the other side of this storm. There is light at the end of this long and dark tunnel. But things do not have to go back to what they were. How in the world can they? What a disservice we would be doing to each other if we didn’t allow this thing to change our hearts. Just in the way the virus wins if we do not band together now, it is just as victorious if we return to what we knew before. We must lock arms and lean on humankind. We cannot forget to remind ourselves, both today and every single day to follow, that at one point we saved each other; humanity in its rawest form.