COVID-19 is Our Moment
Words & Images by Blaine Eldredge
This is our moment.
Every generation has theirs.
Consider the second world war. This time I’m not thinking of men in drab uniforms, tanks, and old airplanes, though theirs is a fabled valor. I’m thinking of the women who took over the factories at home. Not only did they supply the Allied armies, they changed social expectations, forever, and although the movement was slow, they reshaped American social structures into the present day. Women could work, build a plane, fix a car, roll up their sleeves and subdue a crisis. It is absolutely remarkable.
What about Harriet Tubman, of recent popular resurgence? She took hold of her freedom, and then saw that freedom as an opportunity to inject vivid subversion into the grim culture of American slavery. She gave with her life on the line.
What about Ne-hem-yah, the underdog Hebrew prophet, servant to Cyrus, fourth king of Anshan, who returned to the ruins of Jerusalem at night and rallied the restoration of the wall? Together with a little band of risk-resistant visionaries, he ignored bribes and weather and the threats of violent kings. Forget foggy sermons—think of history: they protected a people in danger. They safeguarded whatever shard of legacy was given them. They belted on the six gun and the trowel and turned the needle of history.
Now, us.
Right now, the coronavirus is sweeping the world and turning social media feeds into dioramas of fear. Or better yet, tiny doomsday parades, silent and threatening as any old film seen on TV. And it’s a big deal. It is. Eventually, 50% of people could be infected. Somewhere between 1% and 4% of those could depart this earth.
And there’s an urgent call to action in the breaking news and the waterfall of related articles: Hide. Stay away from other people. Flatten the infection curve. That’s certainly extremely important. There are only so many hospitals. If 10 people are going to get sick, it’d be better if one person came down each week, instead of all 10 at once. It’s important to avoid swamping the system, and we should help.
“Right now, the coronavirus is sweeping the world and turning social media feeds into dioramas of fear. Or better yet, tiny doomsday parades, silent and threatening as any old film seen on TV. And it’s a big deal. It is. Eventually, 50% of people could be infected. Somewhere between 1% and 4% of those could depart this earth. ”
But. Hear me. Social distancing is not the best thing you can do, period. It’s the best thing you can do in terms of public health, and you should do it. But it’s not the best thing you can do in terms of the rest of human life, meaning, it’s not the only thing you can do. People have social needs. They have existential fears. They have hearts and souls and many unanswered questions from nights wracked with spiritual desire and dread. Who hasn’t had at least one night beneath a starry sky and a run-in with the utterly unnerving numinous? God, like the three tall masts of an unfamiliar ship, on the horizon. That’s a need, too. And you can speak to it without being in the same room.
WASH YOUR HANDS is not the whole story. Fear is not the whole story, though it’s certainly the dominant narrative. People hoarding toilet paper are living it.
Here’s another: This is a remarkable opportunity.
It is, in fact, a generation-defining opportunity.
As a demographic, millennials are among the least vulnerable people to COVID-19. We’re not invulnerable. But we are, taken together, less vulnerable than many of our friends and neighbors. We’re also digital natives. We’re canny, resilient, relational, and shock-resistant. I mean, come on—we came of age during the Great Recession of 2008, when rapacious capitalism hoodwinked the world and ripped off the future. This is a generation made for crisis.
And notice something fascinating—many of the traits and behaviors for which our generation is criticized are exactly what the world needs. We can live online. We’re inventive. We're after purpose, not pay. We’re after people.
This is an opportunity. You can do more than survive. You can do more than wash your hands. You can offer life, generosity, and hope to a world shaking with fear. You can do this in a hundred ways if you’ll accept the call to action. Stop retreating. Turn around. Walk toward the darkness. View this as your moment.
A friend of mine’s a nurse, so he’s an obvious starting place. He’s picking up extra shifts because he hears the call.
Another friend, my neighbor, came out of his house and boldly declared, “DANCE PARTY!” We blasted music and our families danced on their separate lawns, far apart, because the heart needs to dance.
Another friend is helping isolated people get lists of great novels.
Another friend is making grocery runs for quarantined people.
Another friend is picking up window-service coffee, simply to soften the blow to local businesses.
Don’t give in to fear.
If we accept this challenge, we won’t just preserve a larger portion of our society and economy. We will make it better than it was before.
What about the folks setting up 24-hour prayer for the world? What about the folks offering simple smiles and kindness in public spaces? What about Italy, where quarantined people living in apartment buildings gather on their decks at night and conduct choral concerts? That’s about as bold a gesture of defiance as I know. You could do that. You could have front porch concerts, where you play your guitar and shout conversations to your neighbors across the street. You could make grocery runs for elderly neighbors, or, if that’s not the best option, make sure they have access to delivery apps. You could—my goodness—give them your phone number. Say, “Let me know if you need anything.” And then check in.
You could give money, not hoard it.
You could develop an app that would coach people through being sick.
You could make great art and give posters away because beauty helps people recover.
You could offer to play Scrabble with your neighbors online.
You could send articles and meditations to friends suffering from anxiety and depression.
You could make a digital neighborhood “needs” boards for Tylenol, baby wipes, and toilet paper to help people share. Looking out for #1 looks a lot different when you hear that a sick family doesn’t have Ibuprofen.
You could post games and activities for families online because family quarantines, believe me, are hard.
What will you offer? This emergency is going to endure for a few months, at least. You have time to think about your creative contribution. Think of it.
Now, we’re not the only generation working. We understand this disease because older scientists are doing their jobs. We’re keeping supply chains together because our parents are active. We’re connected online because the generation before us showed up. Many people are playing their part. Let’s play ours.
There are some simple practices involved here. Like, only read enough news to stay informed. Then, stop. I want some enterprises to fail. One of them is the internet’s fear-mongering machine. Use your time to think of how you’ll bring life instead.
And do protect your immune system. Not only for you. That’s a very small story. But cut alcohol for a while, reduce your stress, and sleep, so that you’ll have something to give. Think of this:If you do get COVID-19, when you recover, you’ll be a veritable ministering angel. Iron Man in his CGI suit is not so well-equipped to walk in dangerous scenes.
And vitally. Crown it all with the startling reality of Jesus. It’s important that we be frank, and not settle for “what’s best in humanity,” as though “what’s best in humanity” was ever anything other than the incarnate God. He’s real enough to choke on, real enough to change your physiology, real enough to change history with a look. Everything rests on him. Ruin and death have always been the ultimate issues. It’s just more clear now, because even though mortality is always with us, right now, it’s the air we breathe. It’s our news feeds, our stores, our neighborhoods, like the worst nagging question we ever had, demanding an answer.
Jesus is the meaning of life, and though people have for crowded centuries stumbled onto the significance of that packed, mysterious statement, the meat of the issue is clear: The world exists because Jesus wanted it to. It has a future because that’s his desire, too. He’s promised to gather up everything, like debris, and put it together, and give the universe its destiny. That’s what we’re offering. We’re offering ultimate hope in the face of ultimate fear. We’re saying that, as Dallas Willard put it, life lived with God and all his resources is one of your options. Rethink your plans in view of this new opportunity.
This is not the end of the world. The return of Jesus is the end of the world. And that’s not even the end of the world. That’s the end of everything holding us back from joy: evil, violence, catastrophe, our own internal divisions. It is the pistol crack. What you feel are the nerves of the runner on the starting blocks. The world doesn’t end when the gun goes off. You are, instead, finally freed into the very thing you were meant to do.
This is our moment, folks. Let’s take it and show the world again what one generation rising to its call to action can do.
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