Hoping.

This is, without a doubt, the most bizarre thing I've ever experienced. I think for anyone who hasn't lived through a war or any situation that turns "normal" life for an entire population on its head this is so... weird.

I don't imagine that lockdown and the threat of a virus is anything like living through a war. I'm not going to make comparisons, because people are experiencing grief and fear in different measures, I just don't think they are the same thing.

But this is of course coming from a view of the world that, up until this point, life moved smoothly and without significant disruption. World war, cold wars, etc were a thing in the history books. Something we learnt about at school in the safety of classrooms. Disruption happened on a personal scale, only affecting one family, one person at a time. It didn't happen to everyone all at once.

I think the thing I'm most surprised about is how quickly we adapt. Nothing like a crisis to remind ourselves that life goes on, we make it through. No matter what happens, we will come out the other side.

There is also a reason for that. Most of us pull together in bizarre times like these. We re-group, reconsider, work as a community. We do it because we are social animals, because we need to protect the pack, protect the tribe, protect the human race. We do it because we are sentimental, because we feel love, grief and, perhaps most of all, hope.

What I hope continues into "normal" life once this is all over is the kindness we have finally allowed ourselves. Kindness to yourself, kindness to others. Forgiveness, understanding, being gentle. I believe it is proving the only effective thing getting us through. Everything else, the selfishness, the greed, the lack of community spirit, has proven entirely useless. We have found a much greater level of compassion, and it is allowing the world to keep spinning.

I don't know. Perhaps I am being too wishy-washy. Perhaps my ideas and thoughts are not grounded in any "reality". But I am just hoping, that is all, and it is getting me through.