Erewhon had introduced us to a society where any form of deformity or disease was treated as a crime thereby maintaining a society of physically beautiful and healthy citizens. They did this by removing those people who could lower the quality of the common gene pool. It was a fictional society where a criminal is put in a hospital, and friends and relatives visit the patient with flowers and enquire about their crime, ask if they are feeling better or if they still have this tendency or compulsion to commit a crime.
The global society has almost reached the satirical world of Erewhon, an anagram of ‘no where’ and ‘now here’! Frankly, I have no idea whether Samuel Butler would turn in his grave or sit up and guffaw. We are living in a time where looters are being treated with care and compassion while confining those people who fall sick in prison like conditions, as if they were criminals. People stifle a sneeze today, and are scared to cough in public, you get stared at for just clearing your throat.
There is an enormous amount of stress that is building up in society. There aren’t many such times in history when age old wisdom becomes counterproductive. Where you are going to abandon the unwell in the hand of strangers, where ‘united we stand’ is a potentially dangerous thing to do. How do we reconcile with the fact that you could meet a perfectly healthy looking person who could make you deathly sick in a matter of days?
A vaccine might be around the corner, but it will be one that will be forced out with the least time being allowed for testing given the critical urgency, so we may not know whether it will cause long term after effects. It just looks like we have to learn to live with the virus now. Therefore we have to get disciplined as a society, and not let fatigue or boredom push us to become casual about the protection each individual has to take.
We must start with establishing new practices that are to be followed religiously, and perhaps even unquestioningly. Your thinking might actually undo all the good because your own intellect could work out logical reasons for you to assume the accuracy of random information that comes across on social media, as you pick and choose what to believe. We may have to stick to what is safe overall and err on the side of caution. We have to be mentally strong and stay safe.