COVID-19: Are We Really All In This Together?

If you’ve ever perused much of what is posted in this blog you’ve read about impact mindfulness. That’s a concept that I coined some years ago. It has three foundational pillars or principles…

1. Impact Over (self) Interest
2. The Big US (or we’re all in this together)
3. Removing Impact Blinders

I’m hearing the phrase “we’re all in this [mess?] together” a lot these days in the midst of this COVID-19 epidemic…

But are we…really?

And why did it take a worldwide pandemic for us to figure that one out?

Here’s a blurb from a post I wrote long ago about the concept of the Big US…

I’ve repeatedly posted about impact mindfulness using a “we’re all in this boat together” metaphor. I still like the metaphor, but recently a more relevant one dawned upon me. One that involves a sinking ship…enter the Titanic…

In my metaphor, the ship represents the Planet, the crew and passengers, well, People, of course, and the ocean upon which they are afloat, the Universe.

Yea you got it, People – Planet – Universe, or to the handful that pay any attention to this blog, aka, my three dots…

Now isn’t it true that the silly things that divide us, like nationality, economic status, religion, looks, talent, fame, fortune, etc., tend to matter much less, or evaporate altogether, in distressful situations? When the proverbial shit hits the fan, all that stuff seems to decrease in importance, doesn’t it? The thing that unites us, our instinct for survival, tends to take over.

At the outset of the voyage, the Titanic was a steaming cauldron of division. You had the the wealthiest, then just the wealthy, then the servants of the wealthy, and then the rest who had to huddle down in the lower levels, so as not to be seen nor smelt by those above them.

That is, until the Universe decided to throw a tiny iceberg in their path. Then all of a sudden all that seemingly ordered division turned chaotic. In the flash of a moment what mattered more was survival than societal class difference.

Right now our world is being stressed to the breaking point. And we’re learning that, similar to the situation on the Titanic, there are precious few lifeboats.

What the “Big US” proposes is for us to look past what divides us and embrace what unites us, our humanity…before it’s too late.

Prior to the iceberg incident, the Titanic was an invincible ship, at least in the minds of some. She was unsinkable, remember?

I believe there are a few suffering from that same illusion when it comes to our planetary ship. That the smartest among us have it all under control. But even though the Universe seems willing to allow the illusion of such control for a time, when it is good and ready that “control” can be suddenly revoked…even by a microscopic virus.

We’re actually not in control at all. We can all humble ourselves to that fact, or remain puffed up with division until that small impediment (be it a virus, or a tiny increase in the percentage of carbon in the atmosphere) does us in.

Bottom line, the practice of impact mindfulness requires that we disregard division and focus our impacts for the good of People and Planet in general, that is, the Big US.

Aside from COVID-19, there seems to be a sickness that has taken hold preventing us from seeing things that way. This most recent disaster could be a wake-up call. We’re being called to act for the greater good like never before…

Are we up for the challenge?

When I see people hoarding hand-gel and toilet paper, well, it does make me wonder.

Impact mindfulness has always been about this higher calling. To make living for something greater than oneself a point of mindfulness. Something we just do, habitually.

Bob Dylan wrote that “the answer, my friend, is blowing in the wind.” Yea it is, in tiny droplets of spit that stay suspended for 30 minutes to a few hours. The answer is that, compared to many, we are a soft and vulnerable species. And even more vulnerable the more divided and ruggedly individualistic we pretend to be.

But we are also a resilient and intelligent species. Hopefully those qualities will see us through this one without too much permanent damage…

Hopefully we can learn from our mistakes, especially those of the recent past. The mistake of thinking we can abuse our planet without consequence. The mistake of thinking it OK for mass wealth to be concentrated in so few hands, while so many go without food, or adequate health care. The mistake of not knowing or caring about our neighbors, especially if they are of a different race, religion, or political party.

If COVID-19 can really motivate us to live by that adage, “we’re all in this together”…

Well, it might’ve just done us the biggest favor imaginable.