If You’re Still Emerging From Lockdown, You Have a Chance

As if the people of Hiroshima had decided to sweep up the atomic rubble and pretend that nothing had happened, it was jarring to see how quickly corona’s introspection dissipates

If You’re Still Emerging From Lockdown, You Have a Chance
Preparations for the easing of the restrictions, at the Western Wall, in Jerusalem's Old City, as PM Netanyahu yesterday announced that the regulations previously having been taken to prevent the spread of the Coronavirus, are being eased. May 05, 2020. Photo by Olivier Fitoussi/FLASH90 *** Local Caption *** כותל מרחק ירושלים קורונה
As if the people of Hiroshima had decided to sweep up the atomic rubble and pretend that nothing had happened, it was jarring to see how quickly introspection dissipates as normal life resumes

Like something out of polar explorer Captain Scott’s hut in Antarctica, preserved just as he’d left it on his doomed expedition a century ago, lay my pre-corona life.

The pens, the magazines and printed drafts of articles were still in disarray, preserved under a layer of dust that the cleaning staff had left in place in an abundance of corona-inspired caution.

It took a while to process the disturbing contrast of the scene. Outside, Israel was busy getting back to normal. The roads were full again, people were shopping, yeshivos reopening, politics was back in the headlines and life – with the addition of some social distancing – was moving on. But my desk was evidence that something extraordinary had just taken place.

“Did that just happen?” I thought to myself. “Did the entire world shut down for two months, practically hanging a “Closed for Business” sign across the globe – and now we’re just picking up where we left off?”

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