Fear is a contagion, more contagious than the actual contagion
At this time we are all pretty much in this together. No one will be left unscathed. Be that from the economic loss or the actual illness.
When a majority of the population loses their income, then there is a shift from it being an individual fear to a collective fear…and through this, we might realise what has been denied by the neoliberal economics that insists on rugged individualism. That we are actually so connected, in every aspect of life. The fiction is we are not.
Through this, we might begin to reconnect to the purpose of government in democratic nations. Not to provide bailouts for the big companies. Socialism for the rich. But to provide support for the basics, for which the regular people pay taxes…education, health care, safety nets. That unless this is strongly in place, nothing else exists with any stability.
We might remember that local production supports local economies. That a robust public health care is good for its citizens.
That there is a real economy producing real value…food, health care, education, aged care, art…and there is a global casino that has money makes money from money without adding a single bean of value.
All of these things…we might remember.
And rather than get tangled in the mesh of fear, rather than become paralysed, we might turn instead to attending to the creation of a world that supports the increased well-being of Earth and all her creatures.
There is much work to be done…let it fill our hearts with the hope and commitment towards this.
March 14th 2020, COVID early days
Photo taken March 14th, 2020
