Normal Reality and Real Normality

~ tidalscribe.com

Is getting back to normal life post Covid realistic? Are we Post, what is reality and what is normal life? No, don’t know and goodness knows…

Pandemics, epidemics and natural disasters have been normal for humans since we started wandering around, or at least wandering around in large numbers. Natural disasters were not disastrous before there were human settlements to destroy. Unless you were a dinosaur; even for them, getting back to normal life after a meteorite collision was never going to happen. Even Gaia was probably upset with giant meteors, just when she thought she controlled everything.

But for those of us who thought we were leading a privileged, or at least comfortable safe life before Covid, getting back to normal is what we both crave and fear. Some of us cannot have our old life back, while others are glad of the opportunity to start a new normal. Few of us believe our leaders have handled the crisis well all the way along. Every nation and state seems to have had different rules and while England is rapidly dispensing with restrictions ( I think, unless it’s all changed again ), on the other side of the world ‘Saint Mark’, Premier of Western Australia Mark McGowan, continues to try to protect the citizens of the Hermit Kingdom from Covid and the outside world.

‘In Western Australia, where there has never been a major Covid outbreak, Mr McGowan warned WA residents more restrictions could be implemented as new infections rise. With the state’s grand February 5 reopening now shelved indefinitely, tourism companies on the west coast will be unable to benefit when the rest of Australia flings open their doors to foreign tourists on February 21.’

https://www.wa.gov.au/government/covid-19-coronavirus

Of course it helps when your state is bordered by ocean and desert with only two roads in. Life has carried on more or less as normal. I don’t think people have been prevented from leaving, but they might not be able to get back in.

So where is normal life happening? The fewer restrictions the more worried are the hierarchy of the vulnerable. Clinically Extremely Vulnerable at the top perhaps, CEV a term to distinguish from those merely immunocompromised? However people are classified and however many jabs they have had – we’re up to four now – those worried about their health or their loved one’s health are still sticking to Zoom meetings, shopping on line and isolating.

But going back to normal is not good for the planet. However heart breaking this pandemic has been, Covid will not reduce the population enough to save Gaia, or rather keep her safe for us to live on. Have most of us forgotten we are meant to be saving the planet, have we forgotten how sweet the air was during that first world lock down, when streets were empty of polluting vehicles and people saw mountains from their city windows for the first time?

The new normal is unlikely to be a return to the simple life, or a rapid scientific breakthrough to heal Gaia while keeping our lifestyles. So it’s back to reality, unless you want to hide from reality with all the new skills you learnt during lockdowns. Have a pyjama day and hide under your duvet watching Netflix and ordering delicious meals from Deliveroo.

26 thoughts on “Normal Reality and Real Normality”

  1. I’m not sure what ‘normal’ is. Our lives are very different from pre-pandemic times, as so many of our old haunts are gone, or are no longer hosting live music, and we haven’t regained our pre-pandemic propensity to dash off on travel jaunts guided by the weather forecast because so much preparation must now be done! I’m not sure life will ever be the same!

    Liked by 1 person

    Reply

  2. I hear you, Janet. Mankind, as a whole, is keen to get back to its old normal which was destroying our planet. People don’t want to give up the big ticket items like air travel, car travel, and cruises [I would never go on a cruise]. The biggest irony of it all is that after shutting everything down for nearly two years to save lives, the war mongers are now running about threating another world war. You have to wonder at how weird and messed up our leaders are.

    Liked by 2 people

    Reply

      1. For some time, it has been clear that covid was not going away. So, the name of the game has been to find some way of living as normally as possible, with covid in the background.

        As far as I am concerned, no state has ever succeeded here. The goals for all of us should have been to do whatever it took to make covid a survivable disease. I think the vaccine goes a long way, but not all the way. None of them have stepped up.

        It’s scary because my conclusion is that the problem is too hard for them to solve, which goes toward the quality of the politicians we elect.

        Liked by 1 person

  5. I don’t want to go back to the old normal if it means the same ole same ole disregard for planet Earth…I too would never go on a cruise…and now we have Putin bored with covid ready to start world war 3..do our leaders never learn…

    Liked by 1 person

    Reply

  7. The world has always been and will continue to be in flux. While some long for the past, there are better and worse things today than in the past. We can long for the past, but we need to deal with the present and the future.

    Liked by 2 people

    Reply

  8. I worry that environmental degradation and climate change will continue at a faster pace while we deal with the pandemic (and where do all the plastic syringes and discarded PPE go?). we have certainly given Gaia a great challenge (though let us not forget that the Gaia theory proposes a return to some sort of equilibrium – but doesn’t necessarily include humans!)

    Liked by 2 people

    Reply

  9. To be honest, my life has been better since the lockdowns, with the extreme exception of losing a great friend to Covid in 2020. Otherwise, I have continued as I did before 2019, with the air cleaner, wildlife and plants in an abundance, less crime, and only having to wear a mask in a supermarket or on a bus. I could happily stay locked down, but I know that is a selfish opinion, and unworkable long-term for society in general.
    Best wishes, Pete.

    Liked by 1 person

    Reply

  13. Excellent post. I remember in the first two lockdowns in the UK where you could go out for a walk once a day. The quiet of the main road as we did our usual loop was incredible. The sound of birdsong filling the air. And learning that much of nature had done better – less animals dead on the roads, whales no longer affected by excessive sea traffic, cleaner air…

    Of course, now we see the amount of waste produced from the pandemic. You can’t walk anywhere without a discarded, disposal mask littering the floor – or even a reusable/washable one. The earth struggles under the weight of apathy/

    While the leaders of the world often didn’t do great and ignored or purposefully went against their scientifiic advisers, maybe it will help them learn for when if happens again. Because I very much doubt this will be the last “pandemic” we see in our lifetime.

    Liked by 2 people

    Reply

Leave a comment