A New World is coming
Let’s make it a better one, together
When one is troubled by the reality of this world, it can be comforting to consider other possibilities, even if those possibilities disturb us, so strong is the desire to escape the tyranny of consciousness and the narrow boundaries of our perceptions, to unlock the prisons of thought in which we trap ourselves, all in the hope that a better world, or a better version of ourselves, perhaps, may lie on the other side of the door — Japanese Trade Minister; The Man in the High Castle
While I write, the number of persons which have been infected from the so called Covid-19 Coronavirus, have reached 820000. I am writing from Brescia, in Italy, one of the most affected province of the Country that so far have the highest number of death, 12500 so far.
The apparent mortality rate, is around 4,9%, with a more than 40000 lives that was lost all over the World. The reality in more complex.
From one side, the number of “closed cases”, is around 215000. The meaning is that so far, only 215000 cases had a result, and inside this group, 40000 died, taking the real mortality rate to 19%. There are still more than 600000 cases which are not closed, but if the mortality rate will remain the same, the total death will increase to something like 150000. And the new cases are accumulating every day, so all these numbers are constantly growing, every single day, increasing also our despair.
On the other side, what we see in the numbers reported as confirmed cases, are only small fraction of the total. The reasons are many. For example, it is not possible to test all the population, so every day only a certain amount of tests can be done. Many people, the majority according to research, also show no symptoms, and therefore are basically not tested, as indicated by the WHO’s directives. Finally a lot of people, especially the elders, are dying at home, since families know that in a situation where the sanitary system is under too much pressure, they will not use the breathing machines on them, trying probably to save younger people, which have a higher success rate. It has been estimated that for every 1 infection case founded through testing and reported officially, there could be another 5 to10 more which are not reported, not in the numbers we check every day. This would make the real mortality rate much smaller of course, but the problem much bigger to be addressed.
There is no denying that right now we live in a very dangerous World, and a very sad one to say the least. We are going to lose many of our loved ones, we are going to lose the majority of the oldest generation, our grandparents’ generation, the one that have built our Countries after the end of the WWII.
But if from the a health point of view, the worst might about to come, but at least we now know how to act to limit the spread of infections, what will be the greatest concern in the months and years to come, is the economic situation. It is by now quite clear that 2020 will end up with a big contraction and recession, and that getting back up with take time, a lot, maybe years.
From a global point of view, I strongly believe that the time has come for a change or course. We know the old road, we know where it leads, we know where it led us. We can no longer pretend like nothing is happening around us, we can no longer be blind and deaf in the face of the call coming from our dying ecosystem. Humanity has come to a crossroads.
Renewable and efficient energy, ban of oil and its derivatives, reduction of unnecessary consumption, reduction of waste, circular economy, this is what awaits us on our new path, would we choose to finally embrace it. Possibilities are endless.
But it first require for everyone of us to become aware, and learn some important lessons while we are forced to remain closed in our homes waiting for better days to finally come:
That authentic, true, really important things, are not what we have considered so far.
That we have sacrificed too much on the altar of consumerism.
That we were dazzled by an economic system that has give as so much, but taken away even more.
That we have all played a game, called capitalism, where the winners can only be a few and take everything, while the majority are left with only the crumbs, at the cost of our very existence, wasted chasing after futile, non-essential things, which in the end make us neither free nor happy, except for short passing moments.
And above all, that it is useless and wrong to request change from others, if first we do not accept and understand that we have to change, each of us individually first, and then, only then, all together as a true human community.
I guess this is what Gandhi meant when he said:
Be the Change you want to see in the World
It is not enough to simply ask for a Change. It is not even enough to just think about Change, to hope for Change. We must Be the Change, live every day for our principles, we must become what we feel we are. What we do has value, it has a huge impact. Let’s stop always looking for a hidden plot or cospiracies, to consider ourselves manipulated from others, from Strongest Hidden Powers. It is just a way to avoid recognizing our individual responsibilities.
We are the Strong Powers. We are the People. We are the Society. The sum of our individual behaviors is what shape this World.
Let’s change ourselves, to become what we want to be in our life experience, and we will inevitably influence those around us, every day more and more people, bringing every day closer that Change that we wish to see in the World. We can change this World by changing ourselves, and by becoming aware of our strength, of our individual power, but also by becoming aware of our responsibilities, towards ourselves, and toward society, toward others, toward all our brothers and sisters, the Humans of this beautiful Earth which we call Home.
As China wrote on crates containing the Italy-bound face masks they have donated to help us in our darkest hours, featuring a quote from the ancient Roman philosopher Seneca:
We are waves of the same sea, leaves of the same tree, flowers of the same garden
A New World is coming. Let’s make a better one, together.