IMMERSED IN THE enforced sabbath of shelter-in-place, it can be difficult to focus on anything other than the coronavirus and its consequences and to seek a return to “normal.” But it’s becoming clear that the pandemic is one of those rare, epoch-defining moments. When we finally come out the other side, the ways we interact with each other will likely be changed. Perhaps, more deeply aware of the brevity and fragility of life, we will take less for granted in our relationships, reassessing what is important and how we use our limited time on this earth. Our politics, too, cannot be unaffected by the truths uncovered by the pandemic. We’ve seen the deadly consequences of corruption and blustering incompetence at the highest levels of an administration seeking to exploit the contagion to consolidate power, taking action against everything from independent watchdogs and federal gas mileage standards to immigrants and environmental protections—with particular efforts aimed at suppressing access to the ballot box.
But we’ve also been given glimpses of what a different kind of future might look like, in the blue skies over LA and Beijing in our suddenly less-fossil-fuel-burning world and in the myriad loving ways neighbors care for socially distant neighbors. That future looks a lot like the beloved community.
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