I have friends all over the world – being part of a reunion group of foreign exchange students from all over the world. I see postings from far away places, like the Philippines, Australia, South Africa, Chile, Guatemala, all over Europe and many other places.
The story is the same one. In every country, all contact has shut down. No travel, no meetings, no entertainment, no shopping, try to work from home, stay away from crowds and groups, cancel even casual get-togethers with friends and even family.
The whole world is staying at home. The whole world has stopped commerce. The whole world is worried about their jobs, their livelihoods. All 7 billion of us are in this together.
In all previous catastrophes that I remember, it was always localized. A terrible hurricane. An earthquake. A volcano. A war. 9/11. It was always just one country. Others could come to the aid.
Not this time. Everyone in the world has stopped normal life. We cannot even fathom what this will do to the world economy.
I see stories about complaints in Germany about this being overblown. I see stories about complaints in the U.S. that this is a “left plot” to bring down Trump. Really? Tell that to the Italian doctors that are dying trying to save the lives of their countrymen!
We’re all in this together. Hopefully we will learn together on how to address calamities that are truly human, not national. Perhaps, after we call come out of this on the other side, can we then address climate change together?
Perhaps we can learn from this?