Death, Life, and COVID-19
24 March 2020
A few thoughts regarding the current situation the planet is facing - the COVID-19 pandemic.
Firstly, as painful as things currently are, they are about to get much, much worse. Prepare for a long period where this is part of our lives. So prepare accordingly. I don’t mean stock up on essentials and bunker down… I mean taking measures to make self-quarantine more livable. Like any distance race, if you sprint too hard at the beginning you’ll be exhausted later. And, unfortunately, as COVID-19 spreads, things will be more dangerous as things go on.
Consider what’s happened in Hong Kong. They had it under control after applying vigorous social distancing measures. Then they relaxed those measures, and it appears that COVID-19 was reintroduced from other regions, and it hit them hard. They thought they were out of the woods, and they weren’t.
This is serious. There have now been high-profile cases of healthy 30 year-olds that have died from the virus. People that weren’t immunocompromised. Now, that’s fairly atypical… but it is happening.
This is perhaps an overdue memento mori for us. We live in an era, in part of the world, that has had massive success in making it easier to stay alive. But, paired with that, we tend to live in a state of denial about death.
It is inevitable. It is coming. It always comes too soon.
I pray that this does not come to pass, but the numbers suggest that many of us will know someone seriously affected by the virus - either through contracting it themselves, or by being unable to get care because health operations are compromised. The virus does not care if you’re in a “privileged” class. It does not care if you’re a saint, or a piece of shit. This affects us all, and even the worst of us is a unique and terrible loss.
Which brings me to a disappointment. Many people, both in the professional commentariat and on the general public social media, have used this rare moment to do what they always do.
Shit on the people they hate.
One would think that in a time of common vulnerability, we would remind ourselves that, despite the passion and fervor of our differences and disagreements, we are all in this together.
Sadly that’s not really human nature. Its a combination of habit - everything justifies attacking the people I hate - and denial - fighting our regularly scheduled turf-wars is reassuring that things are still normal. We cross-train on more effective ways to hate each other constantly… it should be no surprise that it is automatic now, even when it is a pitiful waste of energy.
So I challenge you, the reader, to do your best to un-train yourself. Spend some time over the next few weeks focusing on the person you hate most in the world - yes, that person - and remind yourself of their common humanity. That they are just as weak, fragile, and mortal as you, and the loved ones in your life. They have loved ones too. They are just as terrified for those loved ones as you are.
Do it. Make it easier to work together to make it through this. Stop trying to use this crisis as an opportunity to get what you already wanted and focus on just getting through. That has to be enough. Death is coming.
And how do you deal with death… perhaps even your own? Do you know?
Now is the time to figure that out. Not because COVID-19 will kill you, but because, for once, death is harder to ignore than ever.
Whatever conclusions you come to regarding death, I hope that they teach you to treasure life all the more. Live truthfully with the people you love. Otherwise they may die without truly knowing you; or you may die without being known.
Bonus! Some content to help you get through your social distancing:
Lyman Stone, who is a trained economist currently living in Hong Kong, has been excellent at covering the spread of COVID-19 on his twitter feed… and due to his location, he’s been ahead of the curve on taking this seriously. Click here for his feed.
Norm Macdonald did a set immediately before ending all of his appearances (because distancing) that brings a little levity to our situation. Watch here!
Brian David Gilbert has a suggestion for how you use your quarantine time: Watch and see!
Comedian Bridget Phetasy’s youtube show “Dumpster Fire” is uncomfortably well positioned for our current moment. This week’s episode is here.
Comedian Andrew Heaton’s podcast “Alienating the Audience” covers big-ideas of science fiction with a lot of humor (and wookie stories). Click for it on iTunes, but its also available on your preferred platform.