As nature continues unaffected or even favorably in the midst of this global pandemic, my mind keeps replaying the words I wrote for Mother Nature in my play, Hell, with the Holidays. She reflects on her frustration with the billions of mortals who hold no regard for her in this scene featuring Haggy Hageman with James Ballor as Father Time. And it\’s evident in these days that humanity can perish and the world will thrive.
And for further thinking, there is an excellent article on Medium by Julio Vincent Gambuto discussing how marketing will rebound in the eventual wake of the pandemic, promising emotional salve in exchange for your dollars. But what we\’re seeing can\’t be unseen: \”A carless Los Angeles has clear blue skies as pollution has simply stopped. In a quiet New York, you can hear the birds chirp in the middle of Madison Avenue. Coyotes have been spotted on the Golden Gate Bridge. These are the postcard images of what the world might be like if we could find a way to have a less deadly daily effect on the planet.\”
This is just one of the ways we collectively need to move forward, taking ownership of our priorities and making our peace with the world around us. In my lifetime, unprecedented unity and patriotism were spawned by the horrific events of 9/11, when the identity of the enemy was clear. But where is that unity now? We\’ve seen the enemy, and it looks shamelessly like a lot of us.