Pandemics, Wars, and Giant Spiders
“Would you mind telling me whose brain I did put in?”
“…And you won’t be angry?”
“I will NOT be angry.”
“Abby…someone.”
“Abby someone? Abby who?”
“Abby normal.”
-Young Frankenstein, 1974
Ah, normality. Remember that? Late February, early March 2020, before all of the lockdowns and the fear and the toilet paper that was impossible to get? What did it look like for you? For me, it was pretty simple: a husband, two kids, homework and preschool and dinner on the table. Weekend trips to see family in different states every now and then, day trips into the city to catch a ball game or to visit the museum. Going to the library, for crying out loud. And then, suddenly, in a large sweeping motion, it was gone.
I won’t go into it. You lived it, too. But what was meant to be a return to normalcy this summer has sort of warped into this abnormal space that has the taste of what things used to be like, because we have all passed through this shadow that has changed us somehow, regardless of whether or not we actually contracted the virus. It seems we can have barbecues again, for example- but will they be attended by the same people that used to come to them, or have we stopped talking to them because they didn’t get a vaccine? No need for masks these days, but can we look at our neighbor the way we used to – with love, or affection, or affability – even though they still wear one?
That’s just the coronavirus. Vacations can return now with less fear of catching Covid-19, but with the price of gas rising to unprecedented levels, is it practical? Gas is a concern for some; but what of the heavy psychic weight of possible nuclear war? And have you heard about those giant Joro spiders that are as big as a human palm?*
But I’ve been thinking about this recently, about all of the suffering that has consumed our every point of media – both in the last couple of years with coronavirus and in the most of weeks with the war in Ukraine – and I’ve come to the realization that when it comes to suffering, it really doesn’t matter. Not in a nihilistic way, where everything is suffering and everything is meaningless, but in a way that suggests that there has never been a long time in our lives that was without suffering.
We have all suffered together because of the global impact of coronavirus, the way we are all suffering together in one form or another (whether it be personally or emotionally or economically) because of the war in Ukraine, and so we have become used to suffering in the collective. But there have been sufferings in your life that were clearly demarcated by a Before and an After that haven’t been collectively shared. For my friend and neighbor, for example, it was before and after her breast cancer diagnosis; for me it was before and after my mother died. For you it has been something else entirely. And it will continue to be.
All of this is to say that life – any life, and most lives – contain a certain amount of suffering. Some suffering (I think, although people have disagreed with me on this) is objectively more tragic than others – I personally don’t believe all suffering is equal – but there is no such thing as a suffering-free life. It just doesn’t exist. That was always the case, stretching back across the millennia. So no, it’s not looking like this summer will be as it was before the Covid-19 pandemic, for a multitude of reasons.
But – and this is a very big but – although suffering is a part of everyone’s life, neither does it have to be the entirety of it. In fact, it must not be the entirety of it, or it will be what destroys everything.
This has been an especially difficult couple of years, and it’s not looking so great in a lot of ways moving forward. But just as we all suffered as a group, maybe in the coming days and weeks we can find ways to relieve it as a group. More on that next time!
Until next time, be well!
Christy
*I know those ridiculous spiders are harmless because their bite doesn’t break human skin, but come on.
***
About the author: Christy Gualtieri is a freelance writer specializing in pop culture, religion, and motherhood. She lives in Pittsburgh with her husband and two children. Christy also blogs at asinglehour.wordpress.com and tweets @agapeflower117. You can follow her here on eTalkTherapy for inspirational articles and different perspectives as they relate to good mental health.
