The Great Realization

While many of us feel emotional and physical stress due to challenges of the virus, many of us have time to read* and think undistracted. It is a time we can contemplate our way of life and be grateful for many brave people who fight to keep us safe. It is also an opportunity to re-evaluate our priorities and a time to steel our resolve, changing the arc of progress towards a safe future for our young.

The news, though often dreadful, reveals sectors of our society I took for granted. Not only did I not fully appreciate our health-care workers, but also our grocery store cashiers, and folks we never think of like workers in the meat and poultry plants. The list goes on and on.

Another realization for people in urban areas is realizing how nice it is to have clean air. For seven years I flew medical helicopters out of Minneapolis-St. Paul, a city considered clean. 

As a pilot, I saw the veil of health threatening yellow-brown pollutants hanging over the city from fossil fuel powered cars and power plants. World-wide, people in cities are looking up and seeing, sometimes for the first time, clear blue skies.

Maybe it was just a coincidence, or maybe the current clean air, but I looked up a couple nights ago and counted seven satellites in less than a minute. They looked so close it was as if I could reach up and pluck them from the sky.

It is reported some rivers have cleaned up, with urban dwellers seeing wild fish for the first time. 

I’ve noticed many more people out and about taking in nature slowly and thoughtfully. Maybe, we can regain some of our natural instincts and thoughtfully rediscover the beauty of nature, the nature we northerners are surrounded by.

People, to include myself, have had old friends reach out and make contact. Many old friends, I discovered, are as concerned about the climate as me. And then, a local friend sent me this story of a young father, in the future, telling his son of a historic worldwide “Realization” as humanity, idled world-wide by a virus, came to its senses.

                           “The Great Realisation”** 

                    Hindsight’s 2020 by Tom Roberts

His son at bedtime: “Tell me the one about the virus again, then, I’ll go to bed.”

Dad: “But, my boy, you’re growing weary, sleepy thoughts about your head.”

Son: “Please, that one’s my favorite. I promise, just once more.”

Dad, “Okay, snuggle down my boy though I know, you know full well the story starts before then in a world I once dwelled. It was a world of waste and wonder; of poverty and plenty. 

Back before we understood why hindsight is 2020. You see, the people came up with companies to trade across the lands. 

But they swelled and got much bigger than we could ever have planned. We’d always had our wants, but now it got so quick. You could have everything you dreamed of in a day and with a click. We noticed families had stopped talking but that is not to say they never spoke. But the meaning must have melted as the work life balance broke. 

And the children’s eyes got squared and every toddler had a phone. They filtered out the imperfections but amidst the noise, they felt alone.

And every day the sky grew thicker, til we couldn’t see the stars. So, we flew in planes to find them. While down below, we filled our cars. We drove around all day in circles. We had forgotten how to run. We swapped the grass for tarmac, shrunk the parks, till there were none. 

We filled the sea with plastic because our waste was never capped. Until, each day, when you went fishing, you’d pull them out already wrapped.

And while we drank, and smoked, and gambled, our leaders taught us why, it’s best to not upset the lobbies, more convenient to die. 

But then, in 2020, a new virus came our way. The governments reacted and told us all to hide away. But, while we all were hidden, amidst the fear and all the while, the people dusted off their instincts, they remembered how to smile. They started clapping to say, ‘Thank You’. And calling up their mums. 

And while the car’s keys were gathering dust they would look forward to their runs. And the skies less full of planes, the earth began to breathe. And, the beaches brought new wildlife that scuttled off into the sea.

Some people started dancing, some were singing, some were baking. We’d grown so used to bad news, but some good news was in the making.

And so, when we found the cure, and were allowed to go outside, we all preferred the world we found to the one we’d left behind. Old habits became extinct and they made way for the new.

And every simple act of kindness was now given its due.”

Son: “But, why did it take a virus to bring people back together?”

Dad: “Well sometimes you’ve got to get sick, my boy, before you start feeling better. Now lie down, and dream of tomorrow, and the things we can do. And who knows, if you dream strong enough, maybe some of them will come true. 

We now call it, ‘The Great Realisation’, and yes, since then there have been many, but that is the story of how it started, and why hindsight’s 2020.”

 * If you need food for deeper thought, here is an outstanding book by writer and Scientist Hope Jahren, recognized by TIME magazine in 2016 as one of the world’s 100 most influential people: “The Story of More”, How we got to climate change, and where to go from here.

If you have an inquisitive girl at home Jahren has another book, called “Lab Girl”. Reviews recommend this book for girls age 14 or over, or to be read together with mom or dad if your aspiring scientist is younger than 14.

** “The Great Realisation” can be found on You Tube. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hw0JDJUu548