Unprecedented

Unprecedented. The word crops up several times every day on radio and TV. I’ve even heard the word ‘plague’ once, though plagues are not, in fact, unprecedented.

In this day and age, of course, we’ve imagined that pandemics or plagues are within our control. Ebola gives us a scare on occasions but we’ve managed to put it down, not without great cost in terms of suffering, of course, but it’s been contained. SARS put us on alert but we got on top of it. This time, we’re not sure - perhaps this is a virus that will really defeat us. We seem to have forgotten how Spanish flu nearly did for us, and now here we are again, with little in the cupboard to protect or sustain us.

My father used to tell us stories of his childhood, remembering how a child’s mind sees things differently. He remembered being kept indoors ‘because of the epidemic’. His imagination run riot trying to picture what an epidemic looks like. How does one explain to a young child that social contact can kill?

There is plenty of social contact through our digital media at this time, however. Sitting here in my caravan with no human sounds except our own, there is actually a lot of digital noise. If I open Facebook, it streams statements, jokes, commentaries, pictures, pleas, arguments, and the inevitable commercial advertising, of course. WhatsApp provides a series of virtual garden fences over which we can share feelings, check on each other and keep information flowing. We aren’t short of communication channels in this day and age; we have unprecedented global connection.

In the past we wouldn’t have seen a plague coming until it was almost on our doorstep. We moved about far less, and those travelling the globe did so slowly instead of in airbuses. This virus has zipped around the world with us and we’ve signalled to each other that it’s coming...... but were we prepared? 

It seems not.

In the book I’m currently reading, “The Aquarian Conspiracy” by Marilyn Ferguson she talks about social and personal transformation; stress and disturbance being the ingredient for radical change. I’m not the only one fervently hoping that this ‘unprecedented’ set of circumstances is the spur towards a new world order. We are already seeing our leaders and politicians confused and hapless, ill-equipped to make and communicate decisions confidently. But at grass roots level, altruism, initiative, responsiveness, bravery and self-sacrifice has shown what humans are capable of. 

Last night we joined in the Nation’s evening ‘Clap to thank the NHS’, our unique and precious post-war creation. We clapped and clapped until our hands were sore. There’s no one here within ear-shot, but I hope the little disturbance that we made to the air waves reached those at the front-line. Bless them and “God’ help us all.