Boxed up within 4 walls, we all have been sitting and waiting for the day that Boris Johnson would finally muster the words “The lockdown is now over. You are free to visit your loved ones and are all now safe.” But have any of us wondered what the world would actually look like after the lockdown and quarantine?

Did any of us really consider whether or not it would be safe for us, or our families, our loved ones, to go outside and go about our everyday lives like we did before? Would life really be any different from what it used to be? Or will we continue to have our careless way with the planet, treating it as we please, expecting everything from it and not giving anything in return?

Did the virus kill our loved ones, and our humanity with them, or did it change us for the better? Did it kill our chances for a better future? Or is there still hope for us?

The great leveller

This pandemic demonstrated what type of qualifications and job positions we are lacking right now and would perhaps be most required in the future. It showed us the type of specialists and fields of work which we are lacking in. We  have witnessed and understood that wealth does not determine anything; even the Elite and richest people in society were under quarantine and under the same social distancing conditions as those from lower-class backgrounds, yet the virus did not differentiate between the rich and the poor, the healthy or the sick, the famous or the unknown. The virus does not discriminate, it does not have a preference.

In my opinion, I don’t think that we would ever be able to go back to living the way we did before. This pandemic demonstrated that despite every obstacle, we can still find a way to entertain ourselves, still manage to teach ourselves essentials skills, educate ourselves and attend school. It demonstrated that despite everything our parents have told us, the WiFi and internet connection is the most essential thing we own. Remember that thing people call WiFi? Yeah that thing that connects you to the whole world? And remember when your parents said that it wasn’t the most important thing, that it wasn’t important at all and you probably would never need it? That they survived without it and that so could you? Well, Covid-19 sure as Hell proved them wrong.

Valuable gift

On the other hand, the pandemic has given us the most valuable gift of all; time. It showed us that the hustle in life is not eternal, and life beyond work exists. Perhaps, a book which you never had time to read, has now peaked your interest, or a hobby which was always too long to do, now has become the centre of your attention. It illustrates that our lives are still, despite everything, fully functional without things which we thought were the most important in our lives, things we thought defined who we are. Things such as; Friday nights out, parties, social events, “hanging out”, even friends – we are all fully functional without that. Yes, of course we miss all the fun and banter we had on a daily basis, but hey, we made it this far, it must stand for something.

Personally, I think it is also a good thing that this pandemic outbreak occurred now, in the digital-age of touch-screen phones, drones and air pods, where we can actually keep in touch with our loved ones, shop online, and work from home. Whereas, 20 years ago the latest phone you could have was a flip phone. Remember those? They were mostly silver and if you had one, you would flip it back and forth all the time and flex on your friends like, ” How cool am I??!”, and if you did, it was rare, and I mean RARE!!! It was more common to have a Nokia brick, the unbreakable, unbeatable, battery-lasting-for-like-eternity phone, most famous for all the reasons listed above.

20 years ago no one knew about face-time, the only way to pay for a product was via cash or card, no contactless payment. The only way for booking an appointment at your general practitioners was to call from a HOMELINE, to their direct number. And what is that you say? Social media? Yeah that didn’t really exist. Facebook and Instagram we still amateurs and MySpace was the most prolific social platform in existence at the time. Ah yes, the nostalgic past, innocence thrived back then. Despite everything, we are sort of lucky that this happened now.

But none of that matters now, to be honest, seeing as everything changed, improved, escalated, hence the problems we had faced before have now escalated as well. As to mark the great words of a great superhero “with great power, comes great responsibility…”.

Carelessness

Sadly, as is visible from our growing society, as well as the current global pandemic, we aren’t really handling the responsibilities so well, are we? Most of the people seem to be careless about everything, littering, burning unnecessary rubbish and releasing excess CO2 into the atmosphere which induces the greenhouse effect and global warming. As if they don’t live on the same planet as everybody else, and if their actions suddenly blew up in all our faces, they wouldn’t affect them.

Another thing I think lockdown has taught us, is that the planet can regenerate itself without human help. This was clearly visible at the beginning of lockdown when most of us were stuck indoors under quarantine there was a drastic change in weather visible, at least in England; the weather got better, it stopped raining and we finally saw the sun. I must say, this is quite a rare occasion, especially in England. This is another reason to why the world will never be the same after lockdown.

However, over the extent of the lockdown, I have observed mainly 2 types of human behaviours; the first, is that some of us had become kinder, more understanding and much more empathetic towards others. Whereas the second type is that others have become more callous, careless and cold hearted. This second type of behaviours tend to be more aggressive, selfish and greedy. It makes me question our society as a whole and the type of world our future generations would live in if most of us would just simply switch off our humanity and stop caring about others as a whole.

Overall, I am convinced that the world will never be the same after lockdown. Many crisis experts and investigators have looked into and observed the pressing matter of the pandemic. The Hungarian Prime Minister stated:

“We are fighting a two-front war: one front is called migration, and the other one belongs to the coronavirus. There is a logical connection between the two, as both spread with movement.”

Smile

However, despite everything, all our losses, all our pain and sorrow, lockdown and quarantine still taught us how to smile, how to laugh at each others jokes, giggle at the sight of the photos of our first love, connect with our families, reminisce over the past and look into the bright future in store for us

In conclusion, I don’t think that the world will ever be what it once was. For the sake of our children, grandchildren, it should never go back to what it once was before. I think that these changes are for the best.

We, as a species have changed for the better during this global crisis. Despite the fact that some of us have not changed, most of us have, and as The Atlantic’s article says, ‘we cannot go back to normal’. In this article, Vann R. Newkirk II states that:

“But one reason I can never be a true pessimist about humans is the humans themselves. People, especially when pushed to extreme situations on the brink, have ways of surprising us and doing things that seem impossible. People figure out ways to go up against powers and trends that have until certain points in history been unshakable. That’s where I always place my hope. “

Reading this, I don’t think I have ever agreed, or connected with anything more than I connected with this statement. It was truly inspiring to read this, as well as the whole of the article, and understand that we can get through this together, this is just another set of obstacles which we can and must get through, that there is still hope for us. That the only way to get through this, is to get through it together. The world will never be what it once was, but that doesn’t necessarily mean that its a bad thing.

Change is good, it’s something different, something to look forward to perhaps. My parents always used to tell me that change is just a different version and alteration of the same reality, it’s nothing to be afraid of. It’s “the constant that always changes” some would say and I think that we, as a species, are ready for change. We are ready to accept change, embrace it, and evolve.