There aren’t that many alive now who were adults in those years so for the majority of adults today, this is unprecedented.

I am not discounting those who have been through wars in their home countries, or tsunamis, hurricanes and famine etc. Those are devastating. Millions upon millions have been through such catastrophic events.

Covid-19 is affecting billions. Maybe there’s a few recluses that won’t be affected, but I don’t think many will escape what’s about to come.

I have seen, and heard many people talk about when life gets back to “normal” that they’ll be back to life as usual.

No you won’t.

After chaotic events, life does not go back to what it was before.

We have no idea what the aftermath will look like.

Here’s some of what we do know, without guessing at numbers.

1. Many lives will be lost. Will we hit millions?
2. Countless businesses will be bankrupted.
3. Families will struggle to rebuild spiritually, emotionally and financially.

I have been close to death on a couple occasions, including one time where the best case scenario was that I would be a vegetable. Because of that I have a little different outlook on life than many people.

Chaotic events have changed my life drastically. I am so thankful for that because I have learned, and I keep learning, how important some things really are in life.

The result has been only good for me. I have many struggles and life isn’t easy but that’s not what matters.

What matters to me is the impact I have on others. Out of the chaos I learned to be a better father. A better husband. To cherish the senses I still have, like the smell of fresh rain, hearing the giggles of mischievous children, seeing the beauty of nature, feeling the warmth of a hug and the taste of food. I can find beauty everywhere, because it is everywhere.

When I think back to the Greatest Generation, as they have been called so many times, I think of someone like my maternal grandmother. Grandpa worked hard to provide for his family during the war, taking on 2 “essential” jobs which helped him into an early grave in 1958. His own father had died from WW1 injuries in 1927 so he tried hard to provide for his family. Grandma was left with 6 young children, one of whom wasn’t born yet. She grew up poor, they did well, then he died and she fought for years to get her finances back in order. Near the end of her life I had asked how she could be so at peace. No bitterness or crying about her lot in life. She responded that she’d had much, and had little, and none of that mattered.

Another friend who recently passed away, grew up near London and recounted how, during tea time, his mother and others, would just calmly drink their tea as the house shook and rockets whistled past them.

Or consider the starving Germans who had been fleeing ahead of the Russian invasion. Coming across an army camp and sneaking in to plunge their hands deep into the pile of potato peels and pulling out handfuls that were hot from the already composting spuds. “It was just like candy!” LK exclaimed.

So many stories of them who faced adversity and didn’t let it define them. They used the lessons they learned to become content.

This is the greatest challenge we face today.

We can let it ruin us, we can cry and complain, or we can look to what really matters.

I can’t tell you what lessons you should learn, but I know what I’ve learned in the past.

I tell people I love them. Often. I cherish those who treat me better than I should be treated (which really is everyone). I spend time with older folks, listening and absorbing advice from them. When they pass, I don’t worry about what I should’ve said, because I’ve said it. Most of them have told me that they’re not worried about dying, they’ve lived their life.

Life won’t ever get back to normal. Instead we’ll have a new normal which will be different, but good in its way.