NILS VON KALM looks at whether we can expect changes in the way society operates after the coronavirus outbreak ends…
Much has been written in recent weeks about how COVID-19 will change the way we do life when all this is over. I’m not so sure.
There are some areas of life that will probably change, such as an increase in people working from home where they are able. But history and the fact of human nature suggest that we need nothing less than a conversion of sorts to see lasting change.
The last time the world went through a global crisis on this scale was during World War II. As a result of the war, much of life did change. The United Nations was created, and Australia experienced something like full employment in the subsequent decade. But the world very quickly went back to conflict. Less than two decades after the war, we came within a hair’s breadth of blowing the planet up during the Cuban missile crisis.
What will the world be like after the coronavirus outbreak? People wearing protective face masks walk near the Sydney Opera House following the implementation of stricter social-distancing and self-isolation rules to limit the spread of the coronavirus disease in Sydney, Australia, on 6th April. PICTURE: Reuters/Loren Elliott
“My fear is that when the coronavirus outbreak ends, the wonderful sense of community we have begun to adopt in recent weeks will quickly be forgotten as we succumb again to the siren song of consumerism. I think we are too addicted as a society to be able to resist, unless we make a serious effort to continue the great steps we have recently made once life returns to some semblance of normality.”
Humanity needs a change of heart, and this is the hope that the current crisis is bringing. Richard Rohr says that it is only through either great suffering or great love that people change. In many parts of the world now, people are looking out more for each other. There is a growing sense of community as we regain a sense of what really matters in life. It’s like the bandaid of the superficial distractions of life has been ripped off and we are seeing again what lies underneath: that which makes us human, that which we have always known is what life is really about but that we have forgotten. Suffering tends to do that to people. That is its great gift. It’s why the early church could say they considered it a privilege to suffer for ‘The Way’, as the Christian movement was first called. It’s also why James could advise us to consider it all joy when we suffer trials of various kinds.
Our analgesic society has been set up to provide us with a way of life in which we try to avoid suffering at all costs. The results have been disastrous. The American psychologist, Martin Seligman, has said that since World War II, there has been a tenfold increase in the rate of depression in first world countries. Researcher, Johann Hari, tells us that we have become the first society in human history to actively dismantle our tribes. All this has happened as we have adopted the mantra that individualism is the goal of human existence. Having lost our sense of community, we have seen loneliness and anxiety go off the charts in countries like Australia.
My fear is that when the coronavirus outbreak ends, the wonderful sense of community we have begun to adopt in recent weeks will quickly be forgotten as we succumb again to the siren song of consumerism. I think we are too addicted as a society to be able to resist, unless we make a serious effort to continue the great steps we have recently made once life returns to some semblance of normality.
The easy life is not all it’s cracked up to be. That is not to say, of course, that we should all be masochists and look for suffering. What it is saying is that we need to prioritise relationships and community when life gets easier and the current social restrictions ease.
Our culture breeds addiction. We are bombarded with literally thousands of advertisements every day. That wasn’t the case after World War II. Despite that, the world continued to worship war and military might in the decades following. How much more does our current society have the potential to follow in the same footsteps, and worse?
We recently remembered Passion Week, the final week of Jesus’ life, leading up to Easter. On Palm Sunday we see the crowds praising Jesus as the coming king, but just a week later, other crowds are baying for his blood. The fickleness of the crowds is seen in the same mob mentality we have seen in recent weeks with the panic buying of toilet paper. I heard of one story where someone with a packed trolley of toilet paper said to a passer-by, “I don’t know what I’m doing”. We all react and respond to suffering and uncertainty in different ways.
It is the humane actions of people, communities and governments that are seeing us through this crisis. From a government in Australia that has been known for its encouragement of selfishness, its cruelty to outsiders and its ideology of individualism above all else, we have seen a multi-billion dollar response that will benefit millions of suffering people. We are seeing the benefits of putting people before profits, the benefits of putting government ownership of essential services ahead of private ownership that puts profit ahead of people. And this from a conservative government.
“The story of the Israelites in the Old Testament should be a warning for any Christian that humanity is very fickle. We forget our roots and are distracted very easily. The Israelites constantly strayed from the ways of care for the poor, community and justice that God had called them to, and it required the prophets to constantly call them back.”
Even in the United States, the bastion of free market capitalism, the government is spending trillions of dollars to pull people out of the fire. Where people would normally be up in arms about such ‘socialism’, now when they are in need, they welcome the fair and equitable distribution of services. These are some of the changes that will hopefully not be reversed when the virus is contained.
Despite these gains though, we cannot afford to be naive. Governments have always pushed back gains in the dead of night when no-one is watching. This is why they must continually be held to account, and the common good, not the good of the few and privileged, must always be the priority.
The story of the Israelites in the Old Testament should be a warning for any Christian that humanity is very fickle. We forget our roots and are distracted very easily. The Israelites constantly strayed from the ways of care for the poor, community and justice that God had called them to, and it required the prophets to constantly call them back.
Our society is too controlled by the seductive powers of consumerism to resist going back to what we were before COVID-19. It’s time for us to admit we need help, believe that outside help is available, and surrender to that help to allow us to continue on the path toward a flourishing society.
