It is hardly a controversial insight to observe that we have experienced an astonishing period of change, disorientation, and disruption in these months of coronavirus pandemic.
The gradual development of Covid-19 from a distant news story to a society-dominating concern for people in Scotland, the UK, Europe, and across the globe has been stunning. When did we last experience such swift and comprehensive change?
The virus spread first in China, then Asia, and beyond to diverse populations. Societies globally were faced with a deadly new threat to life and health. For many nations, such as our own, the lockdown response designed to reduce the intensity of Covid-19 and enable their health services to cope with the emergency led to a disruption of ‘normality’ unprecedented in peacetime.
The constant activity, noise and distraction of modern life, the dismal yet frenetic cycle of working, earning, and consuming, were paused. We breathed fresh, clean air; we heard birdsong in our towns and cities, as if for the first time.
Scottish Catholics with a concern for justice and peace should be encouraged by the way countless people across our society have acted to uphold the common good. The obvious heroism and selfless dedication of health and social care staff stands out, along with that of key workers such as delivery drivers, supermarket staff, postal workers, council staff, infrastructure workers, and so many others. It is heartening that the Covid-19 pandemic has led to a greater appreciation of the men and women who perform the often ‘low status’ roles on which our society depends.
Yet the way most people adapted to the lockdown and the strange new coronavirus reality is noteworthy too: the challenging lockdown regime was observed; those who were furloughed dealt with the sudden loss of their working routine; those whose jobs allowed it became accustomed to working from home; people coped as best they could with the stresses and strains of staying home with the other members of their household, or living alone without the possibility of social interaction with other people; the challenging circumstances encouraging many to reach out and donate their time and resources to help the most vulnerable in our communities.
One of the gifts of the writer G.K. Chesterton was a capacity to recognise the ‘poetry of the commonplace’, to see the romance and beauty inherent in the everyday and the mundane. Perhaps these days of the coronavirus can be a collective ‘Chestertonian’ moment for us all: having been deprived for weeks and months of ‘ordinary’ things we previously took for granted, we can now look on them with renewed appreciation and finally see them correctly as the gifts they are.
In Scotland we are slowly emerging into the new reality that the health emergency has brought about. The radical changes to our lives in response to the threat of Covid-19, so quickly imposed, show that our old way of living is not inevitable after all. Inspired by this, may we work together with people of goodwill for a just and green recovery.