This is a time like no other. As I write this, I sit at home, socially distant, sheltering in place, day after day, overwhelmed with oddity and yet trying to find the uniqueness of each 24-hour period. I have to remind myself what day it is in order not to miss appointments. Many of us are in our homes, where each day seems more similar to the last than different. It's quite a time.
Some in the public health field have said this is the most significant crisis the world has faced in more than fifty years. It is one of those rare times in history where everything seems to stop for a moment. Where time stands still. Where we know we will look back someday and ask each other, "Where were you when the Covid-19 pandemic hit?" Much like those in the past generations who asked similar questions about where they were on 9/11, or when the Challenger blew up or when JFK was shot. Where was I? What does it mean?
Most American, and many global, schools shut, for what would be the rest of the school year, in March 2020. Businesses, churches, enterprises, restaurants, gyms, closed to in-person activities.
It feels like the whole world went on a retreat. We all began reflecting inwardly in relative isolation, whether we meant to or not. We began to wonder, when this ends, if it ends, how will the world emerge from it? Will we be different or the same?