‘Many of us are stepping back, taking a look at how we are living.’
Thought for the week: Daniel Clarke Flynn finds a way forward
The unprecedented virus without borders, COVID-19, is causing worldwide damage, leaving consequences for years to come for us and for our descendants. But from the ashes of this global catastrophe are already arising some positive changes.
Many of us are stepping back, taking a look at how we are living, and more and more of us are realising that, yes, indeed, we are all together on this little spinning rock called ‘Mother Earth’. Despite the perennial efforts of some to build walls to exclude ‘others’, in the vastness of space we are conjoined.
For me, the Quaker values of simplicity and equality come first to mind at times like this. I know now that I was born into white privilege, and have lived long and well at the expense of others who harvested the fruit and vegetables I consumed as a boy and into my adulthood. We grew up ‘winners’ in a post-second world war world, in which even the main ‘losers’ became economic powerhouses within a generation. (We should remember that this was partly because the ‘winners’ helped them get back on their feet.) Back then we thought that the sky was the limit, and did not take notice of the damage that unregulated capitalism, which has brought so many advances for humanity, was also causing to the environment. Capitalists may never pay for that, never mind the ever-greater gap between the labour that produced that capitalistic wealth and the distant, anonymous financial investors who received –and continue to receive – the lion’s share of it.
The Quaker values of peace and truth seem to get more attention, but this virus without borders is a wake-up call for all to put into action the universal human values of equality and simplicity that will help the human species survive.
The Greater Power of relaxed repetitive practice of positive thoughts, attitudes, and prayers put into action on a daily basis, has yielded me positive results and I hope, but cannot prove, positive results for humanity and creation.
That is my way forward today. Friends, what are yours?
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