19. Hello from Europe

Where everything is closed

Hello.

I am writing this from home. As of Friday, 13 March 2020, my office went fully remote. On Monday the UK prime minister finally told people to stop going about as if everything was fine and normal. (Only he didn’t make it law, so businesses affected by this pronouncement won’t be able to claim insurance. It’s jaw-dropping how poorly our elected officials seem to understand… everything.)

Much like with the climate crisis, people are confused about the effect of their individual actions. And much like the climate crisis, it can feel pointless (or maybe alarmist) to take any action at all.

Mari Armstrong-Hough @MariInTokyo

You won't ever know if what you did personally helped. That's the nature of public health. When the best way to save lives is to prevent a disease rather than treat it, success often looks like an overreaction.

“That’s the nature of public health.”

We tend to privilege direct results. When we buy someone a gift we want to see them open it. When we work out we want to see the fat falling off our bodies, our clothes looking so much better on us. When we eat a bunch of kale… well, you get the idea.

Because I’ve been careful with my brain and heart lately, I have a lot in the storehouse. So I’ve been giving stuff away. My brain to people to bounce ideas off of or just unload. My heart to say I love you. I have the reserves and they’re not accruing interest, so the only sensible thing to do is give them away.

Whatever you have a surplus of, give it away.

When I wrote about emotional socialism in October, I didn’t know the entire population of the world would soon have to rely on the kindness of strangers. But that’s what’s happening. Every part of the world is suddenly relying on every other part of the world to do what’s right. And, like with the climate crisis, we’re seeing which parts of the world understand that connection and which are too busy casting blame to be bothered.

Like handing a fiver to someone on the street, you’re never going to know if staying home for two weeks actually did anything. And we certainly can’t compel governments to take the proper precautions. All we can do is be good within our own space, within the few square miles we occupy. To form a pact with people we may never meet. That’s all we can ever do and it is so very, very much.