Nothing is normal this year!
There will not be an ordinary Christmas this year, even though we ever so much want it: We are in a worldwide state of emergency, which we can not fool or hide away by oblivion. Let it be the children’s escape and healthy reaction, not us young people and adults’ pattern of reaction.
Money before health.
Where money and production come before life and health, the authorities deny the realities surrounding the corona epidemic. The Trump administration and Bolsonaro in Brazil have used denial as a strategy! See where it has brought the state of health to the countries’ population.
Sweden has been open from the start of the epidemic until recently, and has not recommended special measures except for a certain degree of caution. In relation to the population, they have almost as many percent infected and dead as England. But Norway has shut down and held daily press conferences with recommendations for various effective infection control measures. In this way, Norway have only had one tenth of the infections and deaths than those of Sweden. 440 covid 19 deaths in Norway, against 8800 deaths in Sweden.
The Empty Chair, the lonely Christmas Tree.
There are high numbers no matter how you look at it, and many empty chairs around the Christmas dinner table and a lot of grief and loss for those who are left behind.
Many things have changed for millions of people. I don’t want to go into the statistics of it. You have surely read or seen all too many sinister reports already about the world’s situation. Many of us feel the helplessness, feel restless, alone and afraid.
from this:
to this:
That is why the Psychological Universe, not least as it approaches Christmas, has great sympathy with all of you Swedes, Englishmen and Americans who have lost so many of your loved ones in this way. And of course we also think of the Italians and Spaniards who at the beginning of the epidemic lost so many doctors and health workers who made a unique effort to save their countrymen.
“Alles brennt” “Everything burns” by Johannes Oerding:
This was also in a period when it took time before the authorities and we all realized how serious this really was. Then we think with horror and despair of all of you in the Middle East, Palestine, Lebanon, Israel, Syria, Iraq and Afghanistan who, like Russia, have had a very hard time when it comes to Covid 19 in 2020.
And our thoughts and compassion do not end there. It spans to all our fellow brothers and sisters in the world, from east to west, north to south.
What can we learn from this?
I hope that the corona epidemic will enable us to think effectively and internationally about an even bigger global crisis than the corona, namely the environmental crisis. Fortunately, by this Christmas we have now received three prepared vaccines against Covid 19. Then we can learn that when the threat is acute, and threatens both people’s health and not least the economy, most of the world’s leaders acknowledge that action must be taken immediately.
On short notice, we have managed to reduce unnecessary air traffic and travel between countries, as well as to develop vaccines that can save both you and me, our workplaces and the country’s economy. Unfortunately, the economy plays an all too important role in this crisis game.
In Norway, ordinary people have had to wait over six months for economical support from our social services. This has not been so for large and medium-sized companies. They have received automatic payments in the millions, just after a week, without having to document or guarantee that they do not go to layoffs of their employees. Not unexpected, really, because currently we have a very right-wing government in the country.
Living a richer life with simpler means.
When “annus horribilis coronae” is over and we start living more normal lives again, we have to think strategically. Our excessive traveling in the western world, even in China, both at work and on vacations, must be reduced. That also goes for our enormous consumption of hardware, cars, food clothes and all unnecessary electrical equipment But why punishing us like that, when we have just come out of a terrible pandemic?
I mean we can get even better lives with less things around us to handle and bother us, less stress with always being on the run to somwhere else. This primarily holds for us overprivileged in the west, while 36% of the world’s population are extremely poor, and can not carry the responsibility to change their way of living.
But isn’t this an exaggeration of the impending treath from global warming? It isn’t really that dramatic we may ask? 99% of United Nations research panel on enviromental isues claim that our behaviour is the main cause of global warming. Our wonderful planet Earth try in every way to compensate for the accumulation of greenhouse gases. But it seems clear that balancing the greenhouse gases is impossible without our own devoted collaboration.
This crisis is not like covid 19. It’s more like a slowly growing cancer that we might deny or overlook until it’s too late to save the patient.
We can still travel, but we must halve our flights, and consumption must go down in the countries where we already have more than enough to live good lives. So let us brace ourselves to our duty towards mother Earth, and appreciate what the Universe has given us to live on, and be satisfied with being alive, having food, shelter, some friends, a meaningful work or hobby, someone to care for, someone to love, still some fresh air to breathe. Let us ground ourselves with this choir: https://youtu.be/09cqcwuCcNA
Let”s encourage new professions to develop, jobs and industry that do not erode the environment. Governments, yes and even the overly rich industrial magnates, will profit from giving green jobs start-up support. And there must be many of them. The best experience with the corona epidemic is that we can manage all this together, with a so called «all over dugnad» or mutual effort. That is if we and our leaders agree internationally on defining the environmental crisis as imminent.
We have a global economy to many’s despair, because we don’t know who actually owns our companies, hospitals, kindergardens etc . The cash flow knows no bounds or borders! The same is true of environmental pollution, weather and climate. It knows no borders, and must therefore be handled jointly between countries.
The Paris Agreement is an example of this, but unfortunately it is only to a small extent set into practice. This is not the case with trade in goods, and transactions on the international money market! Here it is action all the time. Then this power of action we know is present out there, as have the coronavirus and the major pharmaceutical companies, together with the world’s leading states, shown us this year.
So therefore: Get started and act wisely on the Paris Agreement and the two degree goal. Those who already have too little to live on, must not lose out on this. We, who can afford it, have to reduce consumption and travel. Back in the sixties and seventies when we traveled less and had less material goods, we lived ever so good lives as today.
2020 has shown that many meetings can be held on Teams and other internet platforms. Many holiday trips can be made in our own country or in neighboring countries. We can, if we want to! Now, we not only can, but we must be vaccinated against an unsustainable environmental disaster. Such a disaster will cost much more, and take many more lives, both among animals and humans than Covid-19.
This scenario is already beginning to appear in some countries as extreme weather and loss of rainforest and species diversity.
Now enjoy yourself and your closest relatives and friends, with a Christmas break.
Have a really good CHRISTMAS 2020. ❤️⭐️🌲⭐️❤️ Take a well-deserved break from the problems for a few days, and we’ll start problem solving in 2021.
WHEN YOU GET AN OPENING IN YOUR SCHEDULE:
- This is a Christmas song fo children by James Taylor: https://youtu.be/XR5vupwpRJc
- This is a k-pop Christmas song by EXO for all my Asian viewers, and people liking romantic Christmas songs. https://youtu.be/yVLxRXoLaas
- This is a song for important Change, by Charlie Puth (feat. James Taylor) https://youtu.be/NqcOit68g2E
