‽istis reclaims 20:20 (weekending July 18th 2020)
‽stis wonders if this is perhaps part of what a pandemic
can do: dominate widely (and absolutely for some) – thought, conversations
(weather-chat displaced?), feelings, behaviour, words and deeds; disturbing
sleep, disrupting day-dreams and hopes…
and bringing utter, utter devastation for some!
But possibly also, the pandemic can affect how you
and I see things and even what we are seeing…
‽stis is cautious about subscribing too easily to ideas that may
suggest the virus is some sort of ‘sent’ phenomenon; some sort of exogenous
(Divine?) imposition to teach a lesson (punish) or to encourage change (with
stick or carrot or a bit of both); somehow an inevitable working out of a cold
and discriminate Malthusian[i] dynamic; some sort of endogenous
Gaia-like[ii] re-balancing - in this
year of ‘perfect vision’, 20:20.
There seems to be no shortage of claims that the
past 6 months may have prompted some people to think about things more
clearly. If you care to type ‘What I
have learned from Covid-19?’ into a search engine (several are available, but
‘Google’ this morning took 0.48 seconds to apparently identify 5,950,000,000
results[iii] ) or listen to the BBC
‘Rethink’ podcast[iv]
(with the multiple analyses of problem-loci and possible solution-foci), well
the lessons seem to abound – including perhaps a powerful incidental one about
the vast extent of the ‘world wide web’ and the capacity of software to search
it!
A great deal of reflection, processing, opining and
dialogue (at varying decibel levels) seems underway - even if this is not yet
the ‘right moment’ to hold an independent inquiry[v].
So, if it is not too fanciful, ‽stis thinks that
perhaps, possibly, maybe some of the fault lines of the old ‘normal’ may have
been revealed, directly or indirectly - like a barium meal coursing
through the world’s digestive system, like an X-ray or a CT scan, an MRI or
ultrasound test (select your medical imaging process of choice, many of which
have surely been so vital in assisting diagnosis and treatment of people so ill
from so many effects of the virus). Here are a few suggestions to possibly ponder in no
particular order– to which I am sure many, many more could be added:
‽ identity and how we define and are defined, past,
present and future
‽ the power of the stories we tell and are told:
past, present and about the future
‽ what might constitute a ‘good life’ and how to
live it
‽ how we bring up our children
‽ climate crises and whether we have time
‽ optimism – v - pessimism – v - fatalism – v -
realism
‽ how we live together and live with everything that
lives, moves and has being; independence, dominance, exploitation,
co-dependence, nurturance, compassion, restoration, reparation and regeneration
‽ education and training - purpose and nature; art, craft and science; kindling the flame; styles and methods; teaching and learning
‽ our relationship with tech. and intelligence ‘artificial’
‽ how we meet and negotiate rights, needs and wants;
how we meet the needs of those who are vulnerable and address how and why they
are vulnerable
‽ how we
govern and are governed; different styles and arrangements for leadership and
decision-making across the world; the balance of
confidence - v - competence; the influences and influencers
‽ considerations
of state – v - individual responsibility and capacity to protect and provide,
perhaps especially in relation to health and wellbeing, mental and physical, integrating care across the lifespan: at home, community, hospital and residential; radically rethinking 'disability' (a spectrum of 'diffabilities'?) and that which disables
‽ how resources personal, familial, community,
neighbourhood, regional, national and international are to be allocated and spent;
property and ownership; work and leisure; the place of art and creativity
‽ the benefits for some of cheap, plentiful and
available goods from across a global market – v - the cost of production and
distribution for many; quality – v - quantity
‽ food security and the potential impact of under-
and over-consumption for us all
‽ the fragility of ‘just in time’ and global supply
lines
‽ the value and role of belief/s and ideology - and
the organisations, institutions and arrangements built upon them; do we want or
need God/gods – or are we enough?
‽ the balance between peace and justice, justice
and peace – and the means to secure it; the cost of security and the price of
defence
‽ the distinction between guidance and law; the
degree to which common-sense is actually common; when and how the law is
challenged or upheld; how we deal with lawbreakers and those who abuse or
violate; excuse – v - explanation
‽ the benefits and disadvantages of nationalism – v
– internationalism
‽ those who have – v - those who have not in relation
to so many things:
·
secure (or just any)
employment
·
respect and status
and decent pay for the work they do (essential workers, those long-recognised
and those perhaps newly-appreciated: in care homes and the homes of those who
need care, in food shops, in public services, in delivery vans etc.)
·
decent housing and living
space, access to outdoors
·
savings and
financial security
·
resilience or vulnerability
linked to underlying health conditions or past and present social
conditions
·
supportive and
caring friends and family
·
a voice
·
access to power
·
experience of
discrimination, exclusion or abuse
·
the impact on
life-chances and life-experiences
And ‽stis wonders if this is really a moment, a turning point, an opportunity for a new consensus, possibly a new ‘normal’ – which just may look a little less like the old‽
© Pistis
NB: further reflections linked to this week’s theme
and past blog
entries to be found on Twitter: replies, retweets (which don’t necessarily
indicate approval, sometimes the very opposite!) and ‘likes’: @Pistis_wonders
