The Shape of Our Future

Past, present, future.

To compose a memoir, you revisit your past, or at least your memory of that past.

When you practice journalism, you write about the present, mixing in the past where relevant.

But when you do what I am trying to do here, you inevitably find yourself speculating about the future, knowing that you're likely going to be wrong much of the time. How to imagine the contours of life that will emerge out of this trying period?

The short-term future is frightening. Estimates are that 43 percent of Californianss are at high risk of unemployment. If it is that bad here, it must be equally bad, or worse, elsewhere.

At least California's leaders are addressing elements of the population who have been ignored, or even demonized, by the federal government. Gov. Newsom and others are focusing on undocumented people and gig workers.

Our existing economy could not function without these people doing what they do. Rather than demonizing the undocumented, which is what demagogues do, we should be celebrating the hard-working immigrants who are harvesting our crops, cleaning our houses, caring for our children and even caring for us as we age and need assistance.

Many other Americans, documented or not, stay afloat by working multiple jobs, and utilizing the opportunities provided by Lyft, Uber, Airbnb, and similar services

With so many people thrown out of work, the high cost of housing rears its ugly head. To be a renter, or even a homeowner in the near future may be a precarious position to be in. Already homelessness is a major problem; might we be headed for worse?

The way we shop may never be the same. Online ordering, home delivery, maintaining stocks of basic supplies may become the norm.

Large gatherings? It is hard to imagine a time when these will begin to recur. I suppose it is possible that treatments for COVAD-19 may be rushed to market and may reduce the disease's mobidity and mortality rates enough to resume those events.

In the realm of politics, what an unprecedented year this has become! The party conventions may not be able to happen. The election will have to be held by mail. The candidates will have to communicate with their supporters virtually, not in person at large rallies.

The nightlife of restaurants and bars may not recover for a long time. "Non-essential" medical procedures may be delayed indefinitely. As one who has a couple "non-essential" surgeries delayed right now, I can attest that prostect is discomforting and unsettling.

Experts on aging have started to advise families to consider pulling their elderly loved ones out of nursing homes and assisted living facilities and to house them with family members. The idea is that isolation kills the spirit and the will to live just as surely as the virus kills the body.

I am currently one of those refugees, sheltering-in-place with my family members. My physical and mental health has improved dramatically as a result.

There are no funerals or memorial services any longer. People pass away alone; their loved ones have been deprived of the opportunity to mourn and celebrate their lives.

A terrible silence has settled over this land.

That this silence also contains elements of beauty is undeniable. With vastly fewer cars and trucks on the road, and reduced industrial activity, pollution is proportionally reduced as well. This is an opportunity for us collectively to do what we should have done a long time ago and convert to sustainable types of energy, transportation, housing, and medical care.

Bellowing loudly that the U.S. is energy independent, when that status is in fact dependent on disappearing reserves of fossil fuels, sounds like a painful echo from a world that vanished long ago. There are no borders any longer, effectively, our common enemy is a microscopic creature that flows country to country without resistance.

We cannot stop it; in our powerlessness, all we can do is try and mitigate its consequences. And vow to mend our destructive ways.

We can hope that we all grow and improve as we battle our way through this crisis. We have options. I have options. *You* have options.

I am not being melodramatic when I suggest that the future of humanity may well depend on the choices we make now.

We've had our past. We have this as our present. What shall our future be?

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