For some, the crises are merely an inconvenient interruption in their “business as usual.” For others they have created new ways to profit handsomely at the expense of others. But for most people, combined with a host of other crises like the climate emergency, they are becoming a survival issue.
We’ve been told by both science and religion that nothing happens by chance: “For every action there is an equal and opposite reaction” and “As you sow, so shall you reap.” That means: what is happening today has its roots in everything that has gone before. When dysfunction reaches a tipping point, something extraordinary happens to get our attention. Both the pandemic and the war are surely saying “STOP... NOW ... look at the world you’ve created ... untold suffering amidst obscene excess ... all life forms and the planet itself in mortal danger!” And the slowing and relative isolation are giving us a unique opportunity to consider these issues deeply and emerge with a better Plan B.