Returning to Wholesomeness in Troubling Times

Note: This article was written on April 7, 2020.

Since God is the highest good, He would not allow any evil to exist in His works, unless His omnipotence and goodness were such as to bring good even out of evil.

Saint Augustine of Hippo, The Enchiridion

Right now, I’m just not interested in what the news says all that much. All of the coverage is about Covid-19’s latest body counts and the panic surrounding it. It’s honestly become such a slog, seeing people say the same things over and over again.

But there are positive things I’ve been seeing that have filled with me with such joy. People are going outside and talking to their neighbors (all while maintaining social distancing, of course). People are taking up home gardening and other such hobbies. My mother, for instance, is hard at work in the other room crafting wooden signs and making t-shirts. And people are pitching in when they can to help with the relief effort, of course.

There’s a sense of wholesomeness to this, I feel. And I’m not the only one who noticed it.

This hilarious Guardian article points out what atmosphere the net effects of the virus have created:

Imagine if you just got out of a silent 40-day retreat without wifi and returned to society not knowing about the virus. What would you think had happened?

My first thought would be that a plain people religious group (think Quaker, Mennonites or Amish) had become our new rulers.

These groups live simply, home school their children, dress plainly, have a strict moral code, make their own furniture, sport home haircuts and don’t travel far from their communities.

Just look at how we have changed how we live. In only a week!

Schools are closed and children are being homeschooled – not in groups or centres outside the home, but literally schooled at home. By their parents! Parents or carers who only recently set off for work each day and dropped their children at daycare centres or in school are now spending every minute of every day with their children!

All your friends interstate and overseas have cancelled plans to visit.

The jet set and global citizens have been grounded, either quarantined with bad food in previously luxurious hotels or forced to stay at home and retreat into neighbourhood and family groups.

A kind of goodwill and old-fashioned values of thrift, kindness and charity are emerging. Bartering is back. In your letterbox are flyers from your actual neighbours. They are introducing themselves and offering to do your food shopping or pick up prescriptions for you. Community libraries are being set up in boxes along suburban streets. There are signs offering seedlings in exchange for cuttings. All along your road your neighbours are planting vegetables.

I urge you to read, and I hope you find it as amusing as I did. But in many ways, the Coronavirus lockdown is forcing us to act in a way that’s “weirdly moralistic” (as the author of the article put it). But really, it’s wholesome. Without the rush of modern work, people are slowing down and appreciating the little things, taking time to do things they haven’t been able to do. Without the temptation to go out and have parties and affairs, people are forced to find less self-destructive ways of having a good time.

I believe that we ought to reflect on this: is this kind of lifestyle really so bad? If so, why? And if not, why not?

I feel if we don’t have the time to self-reflect, then everything will return to the status quo once the quarantine is lifted, and we’d have learned nothing. How dreadful that would be!

There are some things I dislike about this quarantine though. The Catholic Mass has been cancelled, and the virtual mass that has replaced it just isn’t the same. Meanwhile, vile companies sell their wares with more success than ever before. And there is a chance that this crisis will bring about the collapse of the global order and economy and threatening social anarchy.

But in spite of all this, it’s important to remember that, with the bad comes the good. We’re closer to our families and neighbors now more than ever, and we may have even found the time for real hobbies. As for me, I’m writing again, and I hope I never let go of that.