This is an unprecedented period in human history.
Flights blocked, schools shut, workplaces closing. A £350bn investment from the government which still might not be enough.
The creator of a favourite Facebook page of mine, 'Humans of New York', compared the Covid-19 pandemic to our generation's World War Two. For me, that was the moment I realised how large this crisis is.
The news is filled with headlines of marauding shoppers and caring neighbours, contrasting vast government spending with small businesses on the verge of collapse. The national mood is unsettled and incapable of standing on its own two feet. We do not know how to feel or what to feel or why we do feel because we are out of our depth, drowning.
And amidst it all, aren't you rather bored?
Step away from the screen you're killing time with. Think.
What have you done today?
Me? In eight hours, I've done some some easy jobs, played a game of Age of Empires, repeatedly checked social media and put off some urgent studying.
My life has been meaningless today, and I'm not even in isolation (although being on a deserted uni campus, I might as well be). How does yours compare? How will it compare a week from now, when the structures of life break down even further?
This may be the biggest global crisis since the Second World War, but frankly, just like most crises in history, us average citizens will have to sit in slobby boredom until it all blows over. We'll blank-face our way through Netflix, Prime and Instagram on repeat, until we're allowed to publicly cough again.
World War Two lasted 2176 days - a vast period of time. And for all the battles and epic clashes, how many periods were there of nothingness; of going to work; of people knowing they had no influence on events whatsoever. For every D-Day, there were ten more days of banal newspaper headlines and food rationing to endure. How dull it must have been.
Because that's what will happen now. The experts are suggesting it could be eighteen months until a vaccine is successfully created. And jack-all is going to happen in our lives until then.
Flights blocked, schools shut, workplaces closing. A £350bn investment from the government which still might not be enough.
The creator of a favourite Facebook page of mine, 'Humans of New York', compared the Covid-19 pandemic to our generation's World War Two. For me, that was the moment I realised how large this crisis is.
The news is filled with headlines of marauding shoppers and caring neighbours, contrasting vast government spending with small businesses on the verge of collapse. The national mood is unsettled and incapable of standing on its own two feet. We do not know how to feel or what to feel or why we do feel because we are out of our depth, drowning.
And amidst it all, aren't you rather bored?
Step away from the screen you're killing time with. Think.
What have you done today?
Me? In eight hours, I've done some some easy jobs, played a game of Age of Empires, repeatedly checked social media and put off some urgent studying.
My life has been meaningless today, and I'm not even in isolation (although being on a deserted uni campus, I might as well be). How does yours compare? How will it compare a week from now, when the structures of life break down even further?
This may be the biggest global crisis since the Second World War, but frankly, just like most crises in history, us average citizens will have to sit in slobby boredom until it all blows over. We'll blank-face our way through Netflix, Prime and Instagram on repeat, until we're allowed to publicly cough again.
World War Two lasted 2176 days - a vast period of time. And for all the battles and epic clashes, how many periods were there of nothingness; of going to work; of people knowing they had no influence on events whatsoever. For every D-Day, there were ten more days of banal newspaper headlines and food rationing to endure. How dull it must have been.
Because that's what will happen now. The experts are suggesting it could be eighteen months until a vaccine is successfully created. And jack-all is going to happen in our lives until then.
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