By Mark Antony Rossi

Strange how a global calamity can bring people closer together. It’s even more ironic when asked to social distance (staying six feet away from each other) winds up bringing people to a more neighborly position.

I wish I knew why it took thousands to die for people to begin treating each other with a higher level of respect. How a virus unseen by the naked eye could wake the conscience of a slumbering humanity with an impact keener than an ancient religion. Why don’t we fear the gods? Why don’t we love each other regardless of cosmic or microscopic threat?

There is something in the human condition that defies familiarity. As if our being spits on regular contact with friendly faces we encounter over and over again. It’s a devilish phenomena that creates hostility where there was none. A spiritual impatience with the old. An emotional nosedive into the new. What was wrong with the old? What the hell is so wonderful about the new?

Shortsightedness is the core corrosion that prevents people from learning the lessons of history. Thinking and acting locally does not gain us enough perspective to gather the facts of a wider view. Repeated errors are costly across every conceivable measurement. Without knowledge we move forward on faulty data and become damaged and dysfunctional.

Now is the moment to permit this pandemic to guide our better angels towards mutual cooperation. Only through honest communication and basic respect can we elevate the world to a higher plateau capable of seeing beyond petty differences. At six feet apart we might just revel in the closeness that is possible through shared experience and common values.

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