Pandemics seem to bring out the stranger and hitherto hidden sides of people. Visions of a dystopian world or even an apocalyptic one have created paranoia on the one hand and an intense need for control on the other. Some people walk around with a simmering rage, as seen in the many news stories of late about people who deliberately spit and cough on others or become violent toward others for either wearing a face mask or not wearing one. Others have sunk into a low-grade depression, convinced that nothing they do will make a difference one way or another. I’ve watched enough apocalyptic sci-fi movies to know that the word ‘control’ loses all meaning when mankind is faced with extinction of one sort or another. Or perhaps more aptly put, control becomes more about creating a kind of order in one’s life rather than trying to create order and control in society at large. Because the truth is that the idea of ‘control’ is an illusion in the best of times; chronic illness can wipe away that control over our own lives in no time. Just ask any patient with a chronic degenerative neurological disease, or terminal cancer. The diseases make the rules, patients don’t. We are lucky to live in well-ordered societies that function because there is a modicum of laws that keep it functioning, but it doesn’t take much to wipe a law-abiding society away. All you need is an emphasis on ‘me first’, ‘my rights’, ‘I am entitled to’, ‘my freedoms’ when the health authorities ask people to maintain social distancing, not travel, and to wear masks. The latter hasn’t occurred yet in Oslo, but it will, mark my words. The emphasis on ‘my freedoms trump your rules’ is paramount in our society. You just need to look around and witness the large numbers of young people who ignore the social distancing rules, who party and carry on as though there was no pandemic. Or the people you meet on the city sidewalks, mostly young but some old, who walk three abreast and don’t budge an inch as you pass. More often than not, it’s me who moves to the side to create distance between us. My best guesstimate is that two of ten people follow the suggested rules for social distancing. Even some of the elderly seem not to care about social distancing. One nice exception was a middle-aged couple that began to walk single-file when they saw me coming, and we acknowledged each other as we passed each other. It’s as though those who ‘get it’ are part of a secret club when we meet each other; we exchange knowing glances. Because we know that the rest of society doesn’t get it. I’ve watched and read enough apocalyptic sci-fi shows and books respectively to know that this is how the world really is. The majority of people carry on as though nothing has happened, or that what has happened doesn’t really affect them personally. Until it does. And by then it’s usually too late. If people could at least follow these simple rules, we could maintain some semblance of control—the idea of control in any case. The coronavirus doesn’t care about any of it; it will continue doing what viruses do, infecting hosts and making them sick, until it is stopped in one way or another.
I try to follow the advice given by the health authorities.
I have purchased face masks in the event that we are asked to use them. Come autumn
and winter, I will use them when I go grocery shopping or out to any crowded
place. Right now it’s summer and I’m in my garden, alone for the most part.
That God-given haven disappears in wintertime. I will continue to work from
home, shop online, and grocery shop once a week. I am not sure what winter will
be like in the psychological sense; every now and then I get inklings of what a
world plagued by a long-term pandemic could really be like. I know there are a
lot of mentally-fragile and anxious people in the world, and their needs cannot
be ignored. I fear sometimes that the healthcare systems will be overwhelmed
not only with virus sufferers but also with people who cannot cope with the
current restricted life, especially if that type of life continues for another
year or two. I don’t know the future, but I can imagine it. At present, a
second coronavirus wave is building in Europe and no one knows how deadly that
could be. Without a vaccine, I cannot see how we are going to get past this
pandemic. Until that time, we can keep the virus in check by abiding by the
rules laid out for us by the health authorities. One can hope that we have
learned something from the first coronavirus wave.
