It’s Baa-ack – in new style

My window has changed, but in many ways, my view has not…..

 

it’s all new, all different, and yet, very much the same


I woke up this morning feel out of sorts – not quite ill, not quite right either. The sort of wake-up that in normal times would be trivial, annoying but something that could be shaken off after a nice glass of tea or a quick shower. THIS morning I: assessed my body before I got out of bed, took my temperature 3 times, waved at my husband instead of kissing him, took a couple deep breaths to check lung capacity, and made my now-daily rounds with alcohol solution and soap-and-water bottle to wipe down electronics and common surfaces respectively. [note: being the geeks that we are, our home has more electronics than the church does, so this takes a while]

But yes, life has surely changed. And, by the way, I came to the conclusion that so far I am fine but stressed out.

Remember when computers were the new thing? I mean, personal computers. Around 1981 or so. They were going to revolutionize everything.  And boy, they did.

It was a slow start, with many nay-sayers, but the efficiency and usefulness of the mighty electrons and  ones-and-zeroes won out.  Now computers, chips, and AI are everywhere. In our entertainment, our work, our kitchen, our entire home, even in the infrastructure of our communities.

We have harnessed the power of computer technology and it is ours – to use for good or evil, like any other tool. Today – this day – it is our best tool for combatting the pandemic on all sides. From kids’ homework to the scientific search for a vaccine,  from patient treatment and emergency management, from online ordering and work-from-home  to our own humble efforts here to keep our congregation together, computer technology has been the tool that has the strength and versatility to network us together in unprecedented manner,  keeping our society going at a level to which we have grown accustomed.

It’s not without problems, obviously. The same technology keeping us afloat is the same force that fostered the instant-gratification culture that is creating problems for us mentally. We have grown so used to getting things nearly as soon as we decide we want them that we have trouble even sprinting the distance of this marathon, let alone accessing our abilities to become long-distance runners. Hence our impatience to get out-and-about, our rush to ‘open the economy’, our possibly ill-advised propulsion to return to normal.

Normal. That word. Bandied about as if it were gospel. Scornfully kicked aside as if it were yesterday’s trash. There are as many interpretations of what normal will look like as there are people on the planet. Maybe more.

Well, I won’t let that stop me from offering my own thoughts.

Normal is what we make it. Sometimes it develops gradually, insidiously. The kind of development that creates generation gaps. What was normal for our parents is passe to some of us, anathema to the next generation, and so on. ‘Normal’ shifts and evolves like a living thing.

Sometimes it changes in cataclysmic ways – through volcanoes  (Pompeii) or hurricanes (Katrina) or pandemics (covid19). Social cataclysms also change our ‘normal’; World Wars, Pearl Harbor, 9/11 come to mind. This time around, we may have a conflagration of both natural and societal events. Recent years have seen polarization in many countries over how to run their societies. Extreme views proliferate, and consensus seems beyond grasp.

And now, events that should have brought us together have us struggling. The divide shifts as people switch points of view. Some stark realities emerge as people choose generosity and self-giving over greed and self-centeredness. While ideally we need to come together, realistically there will be holdouts. We will learn which side is better as good and evil separate out like curds and whey.

While I pray that the final result will be definitive, I know too well that human nature and diverse thought will prevent that. What I do see, however, is that we will learn from mistakes. We will move forward doing things differently than before, and for a while, doing them better. It is my hope that the new normal we build will be obviously better, brightly shining in realizations that building a society strong for everyone is the best way to make it sustainable and even profitable for everyone. I hope that realization  will override the greed and corruption of those who think only of themselves and what they can accumulate.

Humankind is adaptable. God’s ‘experiment’  – as some like to refer to it – would never have lasted this long if we could not adapt. Although we may not be used to doing it so fast, or feel comfortable with such rapid change,  we can do it.

In my lifetime and in the lifetimes of many of you, we have gone from black-and-white TV, transistor radios, and phone systems with exchanges and live operators to cell phones with computational powers and film and video-transmission capability. We have moved from a race to the moon to exploring the stars. My own grandmother saw the inauguration of flight and lived to see man on the moon. Our technological developments seem to know no bounds.

Our capacity to change along with those developments can surpass boundaries as well. I think they will, because we need them to.

 I will lift up mine eyes unto the hills, from whence cometh my help.  My help cometh from the Lord, which made heaven and earth.  (Psalm 121:1-2 KJV)

Author: AdminWriter

Parish Administrator with skills.