Letting go of fear, choosing change

If you're not living with a sense of unease in these days of the corona virus, I suspect you're more the exception than the rule. I'm already tired of the word "unprecedented" and all the other words like it.

While it's true that our current generations have never been though anything like this pandemic, it's also important to remember that there have always been people around the globe and even in our own neighbourhoods who have lived with forms of uncertainty and fear that we have never known.

But suddenly, we are all in the same boat with Covid-19, which doesn't respect the nice little boxes into which we have placed ourselves. No matter who we are, our lives have changed and are changing because of this epidemic, and it seems that those of us who have lived in relatively secure comfort all our lives are most discomfited by all these things that are suddenly beyond our control.

The virus is frightening enough. It's killing people. What it means for our future is also frightening, because we know that nothing will be the same.

But rather than be engulfed by fear, and its companions, greed and suspicion, I prefer to look at this time as a God-given opportunity to think about the kind of world we want to inhabit once we live beyond the virus. This is a moment when we may have an opportunity to "RESET" our future. And here are some questions I've been asking myself about it all:

During and after Covid-19, can we better care for those who have always been marginalized?

During and after Covid-19, can we choose interdependence over individualism?

During and after Covid-19, can we better care for all of creation?

During and after Covid-19, can we value every person as an equal?

During and after Covid-19, can we re-evaluate and put less emphasis on money and economic growth?

During and after Covid-19, can we put truth and reconciliation to work and re-build stronger relationships with our Original Peoples?

During and after Covid-19, can we choose to live with just enough?

During and after Covid-19, can we re-develop our society into one where everyone works as best they can and everyone is provided a universal basic income that provides for their needs?

During and after Covid-19, can we rebuild our education, healthcare, justice, and social systems so no one falls through the cracks?

During and after Covid-19, can we become more cooperative and less competitive?

During and after Covid-19, can we forgo past teachings about what’s important and replace them with what we are discovering to be truly important?

During and after Covid-19, can we cut climate change, pollution, and environmental degradation by simplifying our lifestyles, living with less and Being more?

During and after Covid-19, can we hold onto the lessons we are learning about community, generosity, togetherness, friendship, love, laughter, nature, and all the things we take for granted, but especially our health?

As I ask myself these questions, I see some of this work already beginning. Many of our politicians have set aside their differences and ideologies to do what's best for the common good. I cheer them on, and will probably write them a few letters of encouragement with suggestions for our collective future.

We still have a long way to go to get through this epidemic, and many heartbreaks and struggles to come, but rather than living in fear, let's imagine the world we really want and move forward with it foremost in our minds.

It's time to let go of our fear and choose the change we want to see in our world.