{"id":10963,"date":"2021-07-06T01:21:17","date_gmt":"2021-07-06T01:21:17","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/georgiawasp.com\/?p=10963"},"modified":"2021-07-24T20:31:56","modified_gmt":"2021-07-24T20:31:56","slug":"recalling-week-8-of-the-covid-shut-down","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"http:\/\/georgiawasp.com\/?p=10963","title":{"rendered":"Recalling Week 8 of the COVID shut-down…"},"content":{"rendered":"

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A lesson from the classic 1957 Bridge on the River Kwai<\/a>: There’s “always the unexpected<\/a><\/strong>…”<\/em><\/p>\n

* \u00a0 * \u00a0 * \u00a0 *<\/p>\n

About that movie quote from 1957, “There\u2019s always the unexpected<\/a>…\u201d Who could know?<\/em><\/strong>\u00a0Who could know that such a thing as the\u00a0COVID-19 pandemic<\/a>\u00a0was coming? Or for that matter, who could know that for a matter of weeks the\u00a0Colonial Pipeline gas shortage of 2021<\/a>\u00a0would take us back to the the Good Old Days of\u00a01970s energy crises<\/a>. (“The two worst crises of this period were the\u00a01973 oil crisis<\/a>\u00a0and the\u00a01979 energy crisis<\/a>, when the\u00a0Yom Kippur War<\/a>\u00a0and the\u00a0Iranian Revolution<\/a>\u00a0triggered interruptions in Middle Eastern oil exports.”)<\/p>\n

Maybe the Good Old Days weren’t all that great either<\/span>…<\/em><\/strong><\/p>\n

But seriously, I’ve been looking for a quick and easy new post. (Since I last posted on June 15.) I found\u00a0On Week 8 of the Coronavirus shut-down<\/a><\/strong><\/em>, from May 11, 2020. I wondered how things looked “way back then” – in 2020 – and what may have changed since. As part of this update I googled “what have we learned from the pandemic.” I got 181 million results. (181,000,000.)<\/p>\n

But first, here’s a review of that “Week 8” post. It started with my<\/em> <\/strong>definition of the first full week of COVID. For me it started the weekend after Thursday, March 12. That’s the day the ACC Tournament<\/a>\u00a0got cancelled, followed shortly by cancelling March Madness and the college baseball season, along with the NBA, NHL “and other major professional sport seasons.”<\/p>\n

\"TheI noted that even back then – early on in the pandemic – I managed to keep busy.\u00a0For one example, I did things like\u00a0watch a lot of lectures from\u00a0The Great Courses Plus<\/a>,* especially while keeping busy exercising. And one such course featured a quote on how “we” used to cope with such disasters in those Olden Days<\/em><\/strong>.<\/p>\n

Like the Olden Days when Americans “conquer[ed] the American West<\/em><\/strong>.” (Put another way, how the\u00a0\u201cconquest and settlement of the American West transformed the United States from a regional republic into a continental power.\u201d) That included a quote from\u00a0Frederick Jackson Turner<\/a>, who noted that the process developed key elements of the American character:<\/p>\n

Domesticating the frontier \u2026 forced Americans to live by their wits,\u00a0to cooperate,<\/em>\u00a0<\/strong>to revert temporarily to earlier stages of civilization, and to embody a more wholehearted democracy than anything on offer in the Old World.<\/p><\/blockquote>\n

Jackson added that Americans working to tame the frontier learned “to adapt, to\u00a0cooperate with one another<\/em><\/strong>, and to\u00a0treat each other as equals<\/em><\/strong>.\u201d\u00a0(Emphasis added.) He said that by such means as mutual cooperation and treating each other as equals, they \u201csubdued the wild lands around them, working out ideas and techniques unknown to their ancestors.\u201d<\/p>\n

I was struck by Jackson’s words – like \u201ccooperate with one another\u201d and \u201ctreat each other as equals.\u201d\u00a0To which I could only say,\u00a0\u201cWhat the hell happened?\u201d<\/em><\/strong><\/p>\n

* \u00a0 * \u00a0 * \u00a0 *<\/p>\n

So what did happen? And what has happened to us over the past year of COVID? Beyond that, have we learned anything from it? And maybe even come out stronger and better?<\/p>\n

This is from the University of Pittsburgh,\u00a0One Year Later: Lessons Learned from the Pandemic – UPMC<\/a>. From it I\u00a0gleaned two valuable lessons:\u00a0Lesson Two: Constant, clear and\u00a0adaptable<\/a>\u00a0<\/strong><\/em>communication is key. And Lesson Number One<\/em><\/strong>: Be prepared but expect additional surprises. And that’s a lesson that pretty much ties in with that great quote from the 1957 film,\u00a0The Bridge on the River Kwai<\/a>, “There’s always the unexpected, isn’t there?” (You can see a short clip from the movie itself, with that quote:\u00a0YARN | Yes, there’s always the unexpected, isn’t there<\/a>?”)<\/p>\n

And BTW, adaptable<\/em> means “able or willing to change in order to suit different conditions.”<\/p>\n

In turn, from the American Association of Retired Persons<\/a>, I checked out\u00a015 Lessons the COVID-19 Pandemic Has Taught Us<\/a>.\u00a0Lesson 12: You Can Hope<\/em> <\/strong>for Stability \u2014 but Best Be Prepared for the Opposite. (That is, “the opposite of stability.”) And that thought seems to mirror\u00a0Job<\/strong> <\/em>5:7 “Man is born to trouble as surely as sparks fly upward<\/a>.”<\/p>\n

And finally, there’s\u00a0Important Lessons We Can Take from This Pandemic\u00a0<\/a>. (From the “tiny buddha” website. “Simple wisdom for complex lives.”) One such lesson?\u00a0The power of stillness.<\/em> <\/strong>“Our lives were put on pause, many were forced to work from home…\u00a0With this, we were given the power of stillness and the opportunity to unapologetically slow down.”<\/p>\n

Other lessons? Family and friends are important, and often taken for granted. “Our health is gold,” something else we too often take for granted. And “nature still thrives,” and may indeed be getting a much-needed break from too much travel and too much people-pollution…<\/p>\n

* \u00a0 * \u00a0 * \u00a0 *<\/p>\n

Which brings us back to my post on COVID’s Week 8.<\/p>\n

Looking for answers about what a person can do<\/em> <\/strong>in times of\u00a0UPHEAVAL<\/a>\u00a0\u2013 “with elements of panic and destruction let loose” \u2013 I turned to\u00a0Kenneth Clark<\/a>‘s 1969 book\u00a0Civilisation<\/a>. He talked about how Europeans coped with the violence during the\u00a0Protestant Reformation<\/a>\u00a0in the mid-sixteenth century. (Europe was “full of bully boys who rampaged around the country and took any excuse to beat people up\u2026 All the elements of destruction were let loose.”)<\/p>\n

One\u00a0short-and-sweet answer, \u201cKeep quiet, work in solitude, outwardly conform, inwardly remain free.\u201d And that pretty much ties in with what\u00a0Voltaire<\/a>\u00a0said in his 1759 novel\u00a0Candide<\/a>, by\u00a0Voltaire<\/a>. “We must all [just] cultivate our own garden.” Or “tiny buddha” put it this way:<\/p>\n

“And the people stayed home. And read books, and listened, and rested, and exercised, and made art, and played games, and learned new ways of being, and were still. And listened more deeply. Some meditated, some prayed, some danced. Some met their shadows. And the people began to think differently<\/strong>.\u201d<\/p><\/blockquote>\n

Good advice indeed. Thank you Voltaire!<\/em><\/strong><\/span> (And “Simple wisdom…”)<\/p>\n

* \u00a0 * \u00a0 * \u00a0 *<\/p>\n

<\/p>\n

\u00a0Voltaire<\/a>\u00a0… during a time of \u201cdestruction let loose\u2026\u201d<\/em><\/p>\n

* \u00a0 * \u00a0 * \u00a0 *<\/p>\n

The upper image is courtesy of Bridge On The River Kwai\u00a0– Image Results<\/a>. Also re:\u00a0The Bridge on the River Kwai<\/a>. See also the\u00a0<\/em>Wikipedia<\/a>\u00a0article.<\/em><\/p>\n

Re: “Unexpected.” But see\u00a012 People Who Seemingly Predicted the Coronavirus Pandemic<\/a>.<\/em><\/p>\n

Re: “Great Course Plus.” See\u00a0The Great Courses Plus is Now Wondrium<\/a>.<\/em><\/p>\n

The “Job” image is courtesy of\u00a0Bible Job\u00a0– Image Results<\/a>. See also\u00a0Job (biblical figure) – Wikipedia<\/a>.<\/em><\/p>\n

Re: Nature getting a break. See\u00a0Who benefits from COVID-19? Nature and wildlife \u2013 RCI | English<\/a>. But see also\u00a0Impact of COVID-19 on Nature – Conservation<\/a>: “There is a misperception that nature is ‘getting a break’ from humans during the COVID-19 pandemic…”<\/em><\/p>\n

Re: Upheaval. I first wrote “great upheaval,” but that terms seems redundant redundant.<\/em><\/p>\n

The lower image is courtesy of\u00a0Voltaire\u00a0\u2013 Image Results<\/a>. This particular image accompanies an article, \u201cRodama: a blog of the 18th century,\u201d subtitled \u201cHoudon: \u2018Seated Voltaire\u2019 at Les D\u00e9lices.\u201d<\/em><\/p>\n

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Here are some pictures of Houdon\u2019s Seated Voltaire, the beautiful centrepiece of the Mus\u00e9e Voltaire at Les D\u00e9lices in Geneva, which I was lucky enough to visit last Easter. This version is among the finest examples of Houdon\u2019s famous statue, and is particularly unusual in that it is made of terracotta.<\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n

I added that I chose the image since “it seems most similar to what I might have looked like, had I gone through Voltaire\u2019s particular trials and tribulations. (Instead of just my own.)” The full original caption:\u00a0<\/em>“Voltaire<\/a>, a new figure \u2013 the\u00a0intellectual recluse<\/strong>\u00a0\u2013 during a time of ‘destruction let loose\u2026’\u201d<\/em><\/p>\n

* \u00a0 * \u00a0 * \u00a0 *<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

A lesson from the classic 1957 Bridge on the River Kwai: There’s “always the unexpected…” * \u00a0 * \u00a0 * \u00a0 * About that movie quote from 1957, “There\u2019s always the unexpected…\u201d Who could know?\u00a0Who could know that such a thing as the\u00a0COVID-19 pandemic\u00a0was coming? Or for that matter, who could know that for a […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":[],"categories":[10],"tags":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"http:\/\/georgiawasp.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/10963"}],"collection":[{"href":"http:\/\/georgiawasp.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"http:\/\/georgiawasp.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/georgiawasp.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/georgiawasp.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=10963"}],"version-history":[{"count":67,"href":"http:\/\/georgiawasp.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/10963\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":11076,"href":"http:\/\/georgiawasp.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/10963\/revisions\/11076"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"http:\/\/georgiawasp.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=10963"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/georgiawasp.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=10963"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/georgiawasp.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=10963"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}