Yes, these are times of need. And times of need naturally raise confusion and questions.
I got a call from someone asking me if these were the signs of God's judgment. And the Nederlands Dagblad headlined a similar thing this week about punishment from God. My 88-year-old father took a different approach: “Now all of a sudden the climate goals are being achieved and in Japan they see the sun shining again after years, because the smog has dissolved. Let's stop this grotesque global mobility for good and also drive less all together! I didn't know he had so much climate activism in him!
Confusion all around, what's going on in our world? In the Netherlands. Our country of 17 million people, 17 million opinions and 17 million experts. The government is doing its best to explain why they have chosen the strategy of spreading the virus spread over as long as possible. No expense is spared. But there is one drawback. If we - unbelieving Thomasses that we are - don't notice and don't see that people are getting sick and / or dying en masse, then we think: "Oh, it won't go that fast." And we seek each other out, do not keep our distance and we spread the virus faster and more often than national policy advocates. While this government strategy is an anchor in confusing times.
In need you seek each other out, you seek support from each other and you want to share the suffering with each other… Shared sorrow is half sorrow, right? But seeing each other is accumulating out of the question. You organize a rapid spread of the virus by inviting people to come to the same place! The cafes, museums, libraries and theaters are not closed for nothing? Following the government's example, we do not want a rapid spread of the virus.
As Dutch people we sometimes have a number of self-evident reflexes. If something happens, we jump into the organization mode. Nine times out of ten: very good and heartwarming. The tenth time we are now experiencing this Corona crisis! That makes it difficult for us to handle it satisfactorily.
If we learn one thing very quickly in these weeks is “all-is-different”. That we've never experienced this before. Nobody doesn't. So we will continue to experience confusion for some time. Everyone - from high to low in society - does his / her utmost, but nothing is self-evident anymore. Our hold is gone. Except what the national government indicates on the basis of a number of qualified experts.
We will have to do with that for the time being. In the confidence that it may not be the only right path, but it is a clear path that the cabinet has taken. With a view to protecting the very weak and to prevent exceeding the care capacity. A good beacon to sail on in times when everything is different.
Walter Burgering
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