Planet Earth has gone into self-isolation mode. And even if the aliens arrive, few will pay attention to them: some of the last forces are buying up all the buckwheat in stores, others are watching movies at home and reading books - fortunately, more and more online cinemas, museums, publishers announce the availability of content in free mode. There are, of course, coronavirus deniers who pretend that nothing terrible is happening. According to the law of the genre, those will soon appear who will scream in the streets about the end of the world.
Another global crisis is superimposed on the epidemiological crisis - the economic one, which is already being compared with the Great Depression of the 20th century. Hundreds of thousands of people will lose their jobs; a business in the field of services and entertainment is no longer even on the brink of survival, but behind it. Everything is in order with the owners of pharmacies and manufacturers of toilet paper. But these are not the segments that will stretch the global economy. In Russia, the situation is exacerbated by falling oil prices.
The information field is also overheated: the attempts of the same Hollywood actors to shoot positive video messages (for example, Anthony Hopkins, who plays piano music to entertain his cat, or Matthew McConaughey, who urges everyone to focus on global values - kindness, honesty and courage) overlap selfies with empty storefront shelves, reposts of negative forecasts about the prospect of life locked up in the next two years. Or even frank fakes like "I saw tanks going on the MKAD in social networks that declare martial law in the city."
As a result, by the end of the day, even very busy people in full or partial self-isolation, of course, have one desire: to bang their heads against the wall with a cry "We are all going to die, this is the end."
So is this the end of the world?
“Parting is a small death,” as Alla Pugacheva sings. In a sense, everything that happens is certainly a small death and the end of the world. Any psychological or physical trauma is also a certain local end of the world, after which you will no longer be what you were before. So it is now. Just a huge trauma while experiencing the whole world.
We will be honest. I really like McConaughey’s appeal to remember the values that unite the entire planet. But to hope that, having survived all this, we will all become kind, honest, courageous, seasoned and united, unfortunately, not necessary. Moreover, during the crisis itself, there will, of course, be volunteers who go to the store and bring groceries to the elderly for free. There will be those who try to share at least some positive. There will be services that open the content to the public, losing the opportunity to earn a lot of money. But there will be alarmists, and authors of fakes, and looters, and social Darwinists who will mutter that the strongest will survive, and it is time to thin out the planet's gene pool. Any crisis in a person highlights both the best and the worst qualities, and it is up to you to decide which ones will prevail.
So what to do?
Done for sure - do not make sudden movements, for them time has passed. It’s too late to leave on an uninhabited island in the middle of the Siberian river, and there will be no access to medicine there. It’s too late to run to the exchanger. It’s pointless to buy thirty kilograms of buckwheat for a family from yourself and your beloved cat: cats do not eat buckwheat.
What to do? What to do? We will all die!
The first is to work. During the crisis and the world lockdown, the most valuable personnel are those who keep their heads on their shoulders, as well as the daily work skills, even from home.
Secondly, go to the theater, cinema and museum. I am not kidding. Museums, libraries, theaters open the possibility of virtual tours on their sites, and for free. All of us are now within a couple of clicks of the best concerts, the best performances, operas, books, a huge layer of the artistic heritage of mankind from various countries. Lockdown is not a reason not to go to the Louvre. This is just an opportunity to visit the Louvre, albeit virtually.
Thirdly (actually firstly), we are all afraid to lose our friends and relatives. Buckwheat is just buckwheat. Parents, children, loved ones, friends are much more important. When one of our loved ones becomes seriously ill, we always think that we haven’t agreed with them, haven’t told us how much we love them, or apologized for any mistakes. Now is the time to speak. To do this, it is not necessary to assemble a party for 500 people - just write. Let's talk.
Fourth, sharp movements do not need to be made, but changes need not be afraid. Right now, you can do what you always wanted, but somehow it did not work out. Time to draw, write books, compose rap, do history, bake culinary masterpieces, do yoga, compose philosophical treatises.
Well, let's try to tell you optimistic.
This pandemic will one day end. It will not even take years. You just have to hold out for a few months in the worst case mode of playing in the prisoner of If castle or a member of The Last Hero.
But then everything will begin to reopen. There will again be a taste of coffee in a cafe, meetings with friends, concerts, festivals, sales. Let's go to Bergamo, swim in Spain, see the Great Wall of China.
This first fresh taste of coffee in a cafe, a long-awaited meeting with friends and relatives, a trip to the buckwheat festival (well, as you’re already used to it) are the moments that we will remember all our lives and about which we will tell children. We will recall not these “groundhog days” and not endless horror, but the situation of returning to life. Take a word.
It will be a very cool time when the world will rediscover itself. But we will enter it with re-conscious values during self-isolation. No, we will not become all as one smart and kind. But we will definitely understand a few things. That there is no one more valuable than loved ones. What you need to be able to enjoy every day. That health and life are the highest value. But ideas and ideologies at a critical moment have no value.
It will be a very interesting time. And it will come faster than we think.
The author’s point of view may not coincide with the position of the publisher.