Our New Normal
It’s up to us how we recreate it!
I will preface this article by letting you know that these are my thoughts only. And they’re not right or wrong, just one way of looking at this pandemic and the effects on our lives.
Well. Have we ever gone through the ringer with this virus! And according to the news it’s far from over. In my lifetime I’ve never experienced anything quite like this virus and its wrath. There have been many catastrophes over the years effecting our country’s lives, jobs, economics, food shortages, etc. But I’ve never seen it effect the entire world and I find it a bit unnerving.
Family incomes have either lessened or stopped and everyone’s learning how to live life with fewer things and making it (unfortunately for some barely making it). Living with less may not be ideal or what we want but it’s maybe all we really need. I’ll admit that raising small children at a time like this would be difficult for me to handle so I admire the young families who are mastering this way of life. Raising children is challenging enough in the good times, no less when both parents fall sick and help is not on the way.
Education has taken on a new twist with all students learning online and younger students being home-schooled. I’m certain this won’t last forever as parents get back to work but we might see more situational homeschooling implemented in the future. I would love to see kids out of a school building half the day and learn more about nature and visit museums (and yes, statues) to discover and better understand our history. I wish farming would become mandatory throughout all the school years. There’s no reason to ever have our food source become scarce. Staying close to nature is a huge part of who we are, direct descendants of our ancestors who lived off the land.
Grocery shopping for the family has become a serious sport of hunting and gathering, who can grab the paper goods first. There are so many things we all take for granted like shopping for essential items e.g., toilet paper, selection of meats, Clorox, veggies etc. And who ever thought that there would be a limit to what we can buy? That’s not the America we’re used to but welcome to third world country living.
Everyday I hear that our food sources will not be disrupted. And now I understand that major pork producing facilities are on lock down because of the virus. Farmers are euthanizing their hogs not having a resource to sell them. Huh. It sure sounds like our food source is being disrupted. Is that just the beginning? And will the poultry and beef industry follow? I would love to have my own plot of land right about now to grow vegetables and a few fruits. Toss me some rice, potatoes or pasta and I’m good.
Regardless of what channel you watch to keep up with the current news there’s no denying our dependence on China. We’re so much smarter than that, how the heck did we allow that to happen to such an extent? Any country that can take us down to our knees with a virus or withhold lifesaving medications should never gain our trust in business. Our lives shouldn’t depend on anyone but ourselves, our talents and the creativity most of us possess.
There are countless local heroes donating their time and effort making masks for neighborhood hospitals. So please spare me the antics that other countries need to charge us double or triple for those same items. I believe many Americans are so furious with some countries ripping us off that we’ll make it a point to never fully depend on any of them again. Necessity is the mother of invention thank God and we’ve witnessed some inspiring people and their inventions.
Look at the astonishing discoveries that Americans are creating from this feeling of scarcity and fear. Companies are converting from liquor production to sanitizing, University of Florida is working on open-source ventilators and Ford, GM and Telsa are also converting their facilities to produce ventilators. I believe in a global economy just not to the degree of dependency.
There is great talent in our country and we need to figure out how to get products made right here, again. I recently wrote a letter to our governor because I was so upset about everything coming from China. We have thousands and thousands of empty buildings throughout our country. We also have the most desirable country where immigrants flock to for a better life like my grandparents did. I know there’s a way to match the empty buildings and immigrants for manufacturing. A lot of the people from outside our country want to work and become citizens. Does it make sense to toss immigrants to the side, keep emptying huge commercial buildings to make new ones and have China manufacture for us???? Are we crazy? Don’t attempt to lecture about how expensive it’ll be. Instead take a long hard look at what we’ll end up spending when the virus is done with us and how we’ve conducted ourselves.
We have the perfect scenario right here in front of our eyes. Immigrants who truly want to be a functional part of America can be paid fairly as we help them become citizens while they work. It would become a manufacturing apprenticeship, a winning situation that builds self-respect and the respect of others. The next time we find ourselves saying that “we’re all in this together,” we’ll truly mean it because we really will be all together.
One more thought on my mind is believing there might be a bigger picture here. I am Catholic and wonder if we’ve used and abused our world so badly that God finally had to step in before we self-destructed. I can picture Him reaching and taking a huge whack at the RESET button. Maybe we got a bit too greedy, neglected our families far too long, destroyed our natural resources, ran too far off the rails purchasing unneeded items, kicked God out of our schools, tore down historic statues or didn’t believe in our American anthem anymore. I couldn’t begin to tell you why this pandemic is happening but there are lessons to be forever learned and cherished. God is not punishing us, he’s not vindictive and many positive blessings will come out of this nightmare.
You can be sure that we’ll get through this because of who we are, strong-willed Americans. I think we just forgot a few important points along the way. It’ll be a brand-new way of life and I’m looking forward to it. God Bless Us…
