by Don Hall

A creature like a virus is simply nature doing its thing. It doesn’t see us the way we see ourselves. We are simply a means to an end, the end being endless procreation. Endless survival. The thing jumps from body to body without discrimination based on race or gender or financial status. Your credit score is not going to make a bit of fucking difference to the COVID beast (although, funny enough, my credit score jumped in the past few days and I have no clue as to why…).

If you spend any time in isolation binging on streaming TV, I’d recommend you watch a few hours of nature documentaries. Watch how nature operates and see that nature is not a PIXAR character. Nature is a cycle of death and regeneration and the story of the female spider being eaten by her children or the lioness taking down a gazelle ain’t a fairy tale.

From the view of nature, humans are all the same.

There are big changes afoot in the world. The global economy is taking a hit that may be create the next Great Depression, the perspectives on healthcare worldwide are shifting, the differences between the Haves and Have Nots is becoming even more apparent than ever before. 

For many people, this is a welcome switch. People whom the current model has not benefited in a whole lot of ways. They’ve been angry and helpless. They have turned to the mob power of social media to affect the changes they believe are necessary. Pandemic has merely pulled the curtain back a bit and given them the opportunity to show the less likely to see a view of the huge inequities endured.

For others, this is a fight to keep what they have and to bolster the status quo in the hopes that when the virus has ceased its assault on humanity, things will return back to normal.

Sifting through the noise between the two is a challenge. I‘ve come to the belief that when confronted with two extreme versions of the truth, especially when those versions are fueled more by opinion and speculation, the reality falls somewhere in between. Evidence, when compiled honestly and without partisan bias, can be a solid source for finding that middle ground.

On the other hand, if there is a lesson to be learned from the past few weeks is that no amount of speculation is going to be worth the effort. Here in Vegas we’re under government shut down until April 17 so we are in the business of planning to re-open then. It’s work that should be done yet there is a feeling of pointlessness to it given that no one knows what the fuck we’re doing right now. The idea that we will in a few weeks be up and running seems as remote and unthinkable as pretty much everything else.

I’ve been thinking on why, when it comes to society handling this challenge, there are such extremes. Some folks believe it’s all just a ridiculous over reaction and that we’ve indelibly damaged the economy by freaking the fuck out. Others believe this is 1918 all over again.

My theory is that it is all about Trump (Christ, he’d love that wouldn’t he?). Those who voted for him or are in that polling percentage approving of him have not felt crippling and self imposed anxiety over the state of the world. Those who did not have felt as if they are in the pool of quicksand from one of those classic movies set in the jungle — no matter how much they thrash and grab for vines, they keep sinking.

Because we see each other as enemies, because one side feels like everything was fine and the other side sees everything as a travesty, we cannot see the Coronavirus in the same way. So we self isolate and see what happens. Cash grabs on both sides. Potentially dangerous forays into social gatherings in defiance. Pushing to re-open businesses to get back to that which we understand as our default way of life.

I wonder if I want things to get back to normal? Sure, the hours I put in for the wage I am then awarded pays for things that Dana and I enjoy: an apartment, our digital devices, heat and air conditioning, clothing, food, travel. I wonder, though, if the hours I put in to be able to enjoy these basics are somehow better used for something else and further wonder if this sort of thinking will bring me to the place under some viaduct wearing shoes taped together and a refrigerator box for a home?

I wrote earlier on my Facebook wall that now was an ideal time to reassess our priorities and I suppose that is exactly what I’m doing. I’m not entirely thrilled with a life off the grid, as they say, but the allure of eschewing this rat race known as the day-to-day grind is sexy and relieving and cool as a summer’s breeze.

So we fight it out amidst the invisible monster jumping from body to body. What will the world look like when it’s past and the virus has run its course? Will we simply go back to the massive inequity between those with enough resource to skate on top of nature’s vengeance and those destined to be ground down by it? Will we learn something substantive from the violent exposure of meaningless rules and regulations, hypocritical bailouts for corporations that then buy out their own stock rather than bolster the labor force?

After all is said and done, will we still be allowed to bring twelve ounces of Purell on planes or will we go back to the bizarre and arbitrary regulations that include taking our shoes off in security? Will we bail out the airlines only to return to that industry nickel and diming us at every turn? Will the big Vegas casinos survive this experience by continuing to charge us outrageous resort fees and charge for parking or will the corporate suits just be happy for us to come and play?

Will we re-animate our desire to rid ourselves of Trump or simply be thankful we didn’t lose as many of our loved ones to settle in and forget to run his ass out on a rail? Will we still use social media as a weapon or remember how connected it made us feel in these times of crisis and choose the latter?

I hope it lands somewhere in between the extremes. I hope we find genuine changes that we needed anyway and enough of the life we lived to find value in those simple rewards for hard work. I hope we can at least begin to put away our childish tantrums about ideology, race, and sex and begin to see ourselves as nature does — all the exact fucking same but with different costumes on.

Yeah. I’d like us to see ourselves with the same lens as nature. Maybe that’s too much to ask.