Some short thoughts on the pandemic, in anticipation of VP day

 

Like the generations of leaves, the lives of mortal men. Now the wind scatters the old leaves across the earth, now the living timber bursts with the new buds and spring comes round again.

-         Homer, The Iliad

 

 

For most of us, the experience of a global pandemic is perhaps the closest we can come (and certain would wish to come) to the experience of a global war. 

Indeed, you can scarcely read any number of news articles about the coronavirus without the allusion to wartime hoving into view. Queen Elizabeth II herself, in her rare speech for VE day, referred to the resolve, humour and unity shown by the British people to rally the country’s spirits. Now VP day is around the corner, undoubtedly the spirit of those who fought bloody wars in the Pacific will be used to again rally the world as the pandemic continues. 

 

This is partly because the war against the Nazi regime, Fascist Italy and the Imperialist Japanese Empire is one of the very few things left which everyone from all political sides can largely agree on to be a good thing. And while societies can run on the advancement of things for a while, the need for great emotions and heroic narratives, like those virtues that shone out in those darkest days, is fundamentally greater.

 

Just like in any great test that the human species has had to endure, the best and worst of human nature is precipitated. We have had people who would greedily hoard goods at the expense of others, but we have also had many more people who go out of their way to bring small comforts and help to those in need.

 

Take Captain Tom Moore from Britain, the soon to be centenarian raising money for the NHS by walking laps of his yard. The war veteran was moved by the plight facing Britain and the NHS and hoped to raise 1000 pounds. Now, his actions has raised more than 28.7 million pounds from over 1.3 million supporters.

 

No doubt a few illusions have also been shattered. For example, the EU, what poses as the great uniter of a continent and administrator of goodness, fined Italy $8.5 million for its ‘illegal’ use of its own money to aid the hotel industry in Sardinia. This while Italy was experiencing the darkest days of the coronavirus.

 

In fact, the EU’s response to the coronavirus outbreak is so poor that its chief scientist, Mauro Ferrari, quit in disgust. Even Yanis Varoufakis, the ex-Greek Finance Minister, who outlined his frustrating dealings with the EU in his book Adults in the Room, but who nevertheless was against Brexit, seemingly has finally realised that the EU is incapable of reform. The anti-EU sentiment in Italy understandably has risen sharply.

 

 “Look here upon this picture and then this,” said Hamlet to Gertrude. When one examines the grass root support for the likes of Tom Moore (now Sir Thomas Moore, one ‘o’ away from the 16^th century author of Utopia), versus AstroTurf organisations like the EU, the difference is worth underlining. It is one of roots. It is perhaps a time to re-examine some of the terms that have fallen out of fashion, like community, solidarity and patriotism, to think on what they really mean and how they are best expressed when the rubber meets the road. And indeed, where do they stem from.

 

For, like Chesterton said, what makes a true soldier is not hatred for the enemy, but love for what they wish to protect. And there is no time like a crisis to force one to self-examine about what one loves and to realise whom they can count on to really help them when it counts.

 

On the flip side, the differences between the quandary we face and those of whom who went to wars need also to be highlighted – lest we unthinkingly bracket ourselves, as we indulge in our own inconveniences, with those who gave everything.