Corona has put the increasing revolutions and movements for change on hold, but they won’t allow a setback to be set back. The changes were there nonetheless, and what corona has done, was making the cracks of the system visible. And isn’t awareness always the first step of change?

The revolutions came to stop, but the underlaying changes didn’t. During corona, climate change continued. There was even a bleaching event in the Great Barrier Reef, the arctic zone in Siberia was on fire, while the amazon continued to be deforested.

Our greedy economic system had continued to destroy the world, even tough the economy was collapsing.

Tweeds & Deeds

The US and China continued to fight over their global interests. They continued their trade war, US’ president Trump continued to fight against everything and anything, except for the Corona virus. Tweets no deeds would not stop the virus, causing a tremendous death toll day by day.

At the same time Europe continued disintegrating. The UK bent closer to the US, while the Eastern European countries continued expressing their disappointment in the EU, and strengthening their ties with the East. A friend in need is a friend indeed.

Corona didn’t cause these disbalances in the world, it just made them visible.

Health & Waste

Various shortcomings in our system became visible: the lack of health care, the lack of a decent waste system. Both sectors are essential for our lives, yet, they are systematically undervalued.

The health care became visible immediately. They were revalued in words and deeds, but too many health care workers had to put their own lives at risk, forced not to wear protective equipment not to scare patients, or because they didn’t had it.

The waste system became visible when waste started piling up or it wasn’t processed. It showed us not only that we fall short in waste collecting and processing facilities, globally, but it shows us as well the tremendous amount of waste we produce. Over and over again.

Corona didn’t cause these problems, it just made them visible.

Boarders & Trade

Another crack that became visible were the trade relationships, which are unsustainable for people, planet and eventually for profit as well. Supply chains which dried up because international boarders were closed. It shouldn’t have questioned us about boarder restrictions, but about our trade cycles.

Is it normal that a country runs out of toilet paper because it is produced in another country to save costs? Is it normal that a country runs out of essentials because it depends for its essentials on other countries solely? Is it normal that a country’s economy collapses because it is based on import and export, neglecting its local and national economy?

Covid-19 did not caused these trade disbalances or economic vulnerabilities; it just made them visible.

The Choice

When a profound problem appears at the surface, we always have a choice: we act or we ignore. We take it up like a piece of driftwood, look where it came from and what we can do with it; or we push it down, until it will show up further down the stream of time.

The latter is easy and requires short term strength. The first, however, is more difficult, but it requires courage, will, and effort. The latter will eventually become a souring problem that pops up every time a crisis appears, every time the system is weakened, the river is dry or faces a storm.

The first however, will clean up the river permanently and allow it to flow stronger and more resilient than ever before.

Driftwood

During Covid-19 both scenarios happened. We already know how we reacted upon Covid itself, pushing the driftwood away until it eventually blocked the river. Too many lives were lost until we had no choice but picking it up and dealing with it.

At the same time, Covid-19 was the storm that brought the other pieces of driftwood at the surface. Over and over again. There were the economic challenges, the environmental challenges, the social challenges, and even the geopolitical challenges.

They weren’t new, they had been there for a long time, in our river of time and life. Waiting for the storm to spit them out.

Here we are, in times of Corona, facing our own problems, facing the world’s problems. When peace returns, and the river retakes its normal flow, we can choose to throw the wood back in, continuing the flow until the next crisis hits and spits it up again. Or we can choose to deal with it right here, right now, when we have it all visible and clear on the shore of our world and life.

What covid-19 has done was exceptional, but wasn’t an exception. Every crisis disturbs the regular flow and make the irregularities visible. Every tormented river will spit out its drift woods. It is up to us to ignore them and throw them back for the next crisis to come, or deal with them to become overall more resilient.

Read how the world was before Corona, or read tomorrow how it can be after Corona.

 

This article is part of the series of Hope in Times of Corona. Read

1. How this too shall pass
2. how this times of self-isolation should not mean loneliness,
3. how you can contribute to this battle,
4. how gratitude lights up the dark,  
5. how united we will stand strong
6. on the most util strategy in awake of a crisis
7. how I got blown of my feet as well, but caught by many caring hands,
8. how being calm can get us through the storm.
9. about Love in Times of Corona
10. how to discover your own talents
11. why we need stories to hold on to
12. how you can be creative and innovative.
13. how to spend your mot valuable assets in times of Corona.
14. how to listen to the sound of silence.
15. How breath taking Corona really is.
16. discover the other freedoms Corona has shown us,
17. about the new-born freedom Corona gave us.
18. about another way to exceed your personal bubble.
19. about the position of nature in this entire story
20. about nature bouncing back
21. about the crucial choice between resilience and resistance
22. about the game to play
23. about star gazing in dark times
24. About looking for Meaning
25. About how Music Connects
26. about what Easter and Corona have in Common
27. About the Shark and the Turtle
28. About the Irony of Distance
29. Why to Hold on
30. Fake News
31. about The Big Unknown we live at
32. about Feeling Alive
33. About turning obstacles into opportunities
34. about what the Birthday of my nephew learned me about life 
35. About where we should go from here?
36. About coping with incertitude
37. About the Great War and the Great Pandemic, and we should not forget
38. about history’s most important message, echoed by corona
39. How one country could rule them all
40. About how to prevent the next Green Pandemic 
41. about how we are experiencing a new episode of our history books
42. about when the poppy flowers
43. about what’s in a number
44. masks off, how a friend in need is a friend indeed
45. What’s Next. after we flattened the curve?
46. how will our personal story look like in a post-corona world?
47. why we should never let a good crisis go too waste.
48. How Spring can happen in Autumn
49. How to unlock the lockdown
50. Why education matters
51. How we can give meaning to the meaningless deaths. (rethink health care)
52. The remarkable marketability of health, or not?
53. the remarkable rewards of health
54. The queeste for global health care 
55. Health Heroes
56. Pains and Gains 
57. Solidarity 3.0
58. Work-Life Balance
59. Home sweet home
60. Real Connections
61. Leadership 3.0
62. gratitude 3.0
63. Respect 3.0
64. Humanity 3.0
65. Change Management
66. Economic Catharsis
67. To consume or not to consume?
68. Travel the world, travel your heart
69. Barrels of Life
70. People, no Number Management
71. Back to the Office?
72. Those jobs …
73. Economic Growth or Green Growth
74. Global trade, global fate
75. Act local, think global
76. A changed climate for Climate Change
77. Love is in the Air
78. From Fatamorgana to Oasis
79. From Covid-19 to Forest Fire
80. 5 Shades of Fossil Fuels
81. Water, divide and unite
82. Almighty Ocean
83. Plastic Free July
84. Thin Line of Change
85. The Story of Corona
86. The World Before Corona [recap]

Or wait until tomorrow, when I’ll shine another light on yet another positive corner of this dark time.