So, This is the Apocolypse, Eh?

What the heck is going on? How on earth does a microscopic virus bring the world to its knees like this? And how on earth has my usually shielded city of Winnipeg, Manitoba, Canada end up being involved in all of this? These are the kinds of things that happen somewhere on the other side of the planet, in exotic countries. Usually, the victims seem millions of miles away and end up being just numbers that show up somewhere beyond the headlines. Not this time. This time, we here in the center of Canada, isolated out on the prairies, are part of the story. It’s hit home. We are doing what so many others in the world are doing, which is waiting patiently (and not so patiently) for the risk to die down so we can go back to being less than 6 feet apart from each other. At the moment, we are all vulnerable, as vulnerable as those across the planet who we normally can’t relate with. This is truly a world wide experience. Fortunately, however, there are far less zombies than anticipated. All the movies tell us that future pandemics all involve turning into zombies. There has not been a single zombie sighting yet. Many of us have been preparing for a zombie apocalypse. We didn’t prepare for this!

Granted, even though the whole world is facing this crisis, the experience isn’t completely universal. There are some areas getting hit hard. There are some groups who will feel the effects of all of this more than others. There is fear, for example, that once Covid-19 gets into some of the refugee camps in Syria that the effects will be devastating and the resources won’t be there to properly tackle the outbreak. Personally, I couldn’t imagine the position folks like that are in. Or, even here in Winnipeg, those who are living on the streets are more vulnerable than I am, that’s for sure. So, yes, there are those even in our own community who will have unique experiences with this virus.

If we have learned anything, however, it is that this virus does not discriminate. It really doesn’t care who it infects. It’s just looking for a nice warm set of lungs to call home. It doesn’t matter if those lungs are in the body of the Canadian Prime Minister’s wife, a famous basketball star, the leader of the UK, a Prince, the lady who serves you coffee at the café, or the kid down the street. Lungs are lungs to this darn virus. A host is a host. That’s all it cares about.

And, as a result, we do what we can to fight against the demonic little virus. We wash our hands, we distance ourselves, we watch as our local businesses shutter, and we hope that when all of this is over they will survive and be able to open up yet again. There is a lot of sacrifice happening right now, from people who are losing their jobs, to those who have to work because they are considered essential. On the one hand, people are struggling to figure out how to pay rent, pay bills, and even pay employees. On the other hand, people are going to work, risking their health and even lives to keep this city, country and planet going. It’s a hard time all around, and everyone is being affected in one way or another. Our lives have been altered, maybe forever. And it has all been beyond our control. We are at the mercy of Covid-19.

But, humans are resilient. This isn’t the first time in history that something like this has happened. We’ve had pandemics in the past, and we’ve had wars, economic depressions, famines, terrorism and natural disasters (but still no zombie apocalypse’s). Yet, as a species, we’ve managed to survive it all. We will get through this as well. It’s just what humans do. We persevere and survive. We get through to the other side and are wiser, better and stronger for it. And when we are able to freely move about and see the people we haven’t been able to see during this time, and go to the places that we love but can’t go to right now, we are going to appreciate it all that much more! We are going to hug harder and longer. We are going to sit at that favourite coffee shop just a little longer, milking it all in, enjoying every moment just a little bit more than we ever have before. At least, that’s probably what we should do?