For a long time I thought I would not write anything about the virus. About Covid-19. Everyone has written something about it, and they will be writing much more for a long time. A few days ago, I was rummaging through my papers and I found my old notes, just loose pages, almost three months old. I decided to give them a chance... If I don't, I thought, they will disappear, they will be gone. The pages will go to the bin and the topic will expire very quickly, killed by some new, global cataclysm.
It is the beginning of May 2020, and no one knows when and how it will end. Some countries are loosening the restrictions, but the UK is speeding up. We are already beating everyone in Europe. I've been sitting at home for six weeks now. I didn’t go out at all. My wife does all the shopping as she needs some time off the kids now and then. We have three children with us all the time, two toddlers and one in Year 4, homeschooling. It is difficult and can be extremely nervous. Well, I am honest, but why not?
Everything that is happening right now is completely unreal. The Virus kills and the world slowly plunges into chaos. I, in isolation, observe from behind the glass. I follow the news on TV, read on the Internet and all the time I have the impression that everything is happening somewhere nearby and doesn’t affect me personally at all. I always thought that was exactly what happened with the Vietnam War. The war was going on somewhere, far away, and at home everything was quite normal, life as it is every day. War was affecting only those involved. People in the country only saw it on TV. Everyone kind of knew what was going on, and everybody kind of knew someone who had someone up there in the jungle. People died and each of those deaths was a tragedy, but mainly only for their loved ones. All the rest of society lived their daily lives. Someone was counting dead bodies, but it was only statistics.
I feel the same about the Virus. Over 26,000 people have died in the UK and everything is so... light. This is the massive advantage of British TV. In Poland, good news is still no news, a waste of time. In the UK heavy numbers are served coated with much lighter information. Captain Tom had raised 28 million for the NHS and the Queen wrote him a letter on his birthday. People exchange funny things they do at home out of boredom. The topic of the day is that cats, that are used to walking their own paths, should not be imprisoned in the house because they can become depressed. Children paint, sing and compose poems for local heroes, the Health Service. The positive message is everywhere. We're worried, but Boris said we had to come to terms with losing our loved ones. He even sent a letter to each family to explain everything personally. I got one myself. I didn't hang it on the wall as it's a photocopy. It is because of a thousand similar things I get this impression that all that does not affect me. Of course, this is not true. In a way, this is true for all of us.
Everyone will go out, sooner or later. My son will go back to school. And I, being comfortably furloughed and getting paid 90% of my salary, will return to work. There will be no “social distancing” there, because the company has already lost too much. The economies of all countries around the world are dying. People are losing their jobs, banks are losing money. The economy doesn’t like the empty space. And the Virus? It doesn't care much. The Virus will not disappear, it simply can’t. We will slow it down but won’t kill it. It will stay with us forever and that means being dangerous, until we invent an effective vaccine.
A long, long time ago, right at the start, when Covid-19 was just getting started, my wife smelled the whole thing and started to worry. I have to admit that I treated all reports as a curiosity and it did not bother me very much. Somewhere in China a few people died, a few others elsewhere, what a deal? People die all the time. My wife used to read me daily reports, and one thing was repetitively weird...
[Note: I am not one of those snooping around all those conspiracy theories, I mean everywhere. There are many of them, I know. Some make a lot of sense, I admit. Unfortunately, I am also firmly convinced that the governments of all countries are conspiring overwhelmingly against their own citizens. Because this is what the world is and it has always been. And that's human nature and a nature of power that corrupts more than anything else].
What I said to my wife was more like a joke, so quick, when you say what comes to your mind first.
“Nice virus”, I said. “Very selective. It's quite interesting how selective it is”.
My point was that the Virus kills the elderly, those with underlying health conditions and those with weak immune systems. So here we have a virus that targets the weak. He chooses his victims from certain social groups. In essence, it kills people who are, well, in one way or another, a burden to the system. "Think", I said to my wife. “The virus will kill pensioners, so China will save on pensions. And when the weak and chronically ill die as well? Think about the profits for health and social care! Such a virus is a blessing to every country's budget. It's almost like someone programmed it to be that way”.
Such a stupid joke in the face of what happened next. First I said, then I thought. On the other hand, there was something in it. The Virus really was very selective. Besides, the idea itself was nothing new. Various societies throughout history have done so, eliminating from their ranks those who were a social burden.
Maybe, as I developed the idea later, this is a modern, more scientific method of doing the same? Today, no one would allow themselves to throw newborns off the rock, or to kick the old people out of the city gates. Maybe someone has calculated the profit and loss balance? Whether you like it or not, for the government, the citizen does not have a first or last name. He or she is only a number, a tiny component of a larger whole. What if the governments got along? They produced such a virus, spread it all over the world and now it will stay with us forever? We will become a society of young and useful to the system. The useless will die on the fly, and all the rest will live until they reach a roughly unproductive age, and then they will... Or maybe...
There will be a vaccine. The world, scared and harassed by the Virus, will vaccinate itself on the spot. What could be in such a vaccine? Everything and anything. A drug that will make people more sluggish. Washed out of emotions and more prone to whatever is pressed on them. It will be easier to control and govern them. You can see I like science fiction, huh? One of my passions. And “1984” is one of my favourite books.
There's a virus in the air. Or maybe there is nothing in the air? It is not that important. You can spray something in the air. Or better - you can give something to people. Imagine periodic vaccinations or the very popular, annual "flu jab" that we can get for free. Maybe, facing various threats, we’ll be forced by law to take such a jab once a year? And then we all carry an Agent inside, an Agent which in certain circumstances may turn out to be deadly for us. If you are old or sick, the Agent will finish you off. And if you are a trouble in any way, then you won’t get the antidote. The antidote is given periodically - at work, as free lunches or at school, as the compulsory glass of milk. It can even be sent by post or, in extreme cases, you have to go to a special point where you will get the pill, of course only if you are on the list or have a coupon...
Some people will not get antidotes anyway. Who would it be? It is not important right now, because it can be everyone individually or whole groups of troublesome. People on benefits, unemployed, Catholics, alcoholics, Muslims, vegetarians, conservatives, activists, pacifists and the obese. Black, white, green and purple. Loving differently or straight. The list is huge and will be compiled by those who are currently at the top. Of course, when the political situation changes, the positions on the list would shuffle too, sometimes very much. It’s only theory though as the systems will quickly stop changing at all - those who were against are already dead.
This would be a society of the future, an ideal society. Those who govern, give their antidote and mow all the others. There is peace and equality in the world, because everyone is the same and there is no one to fight with and no one to persecute. Nobody is opposed. And if he or she objects... What would such a world look like? Let everyone think for themselves and compile their own list of troublemakers. There’s as many possibilities as many people in the world. In fact, the world’s future would depend on who gets their hands on such a virus first.
That is what I wrote at the beginning of May. Now is the beginning of August. The Time of the Virus is still going on and it looks like it will stay for a while. I have to admit that it changed a lot for me. Not in global terms, none of that. Pretty local as it has just confused my mind. It opened my eyes for so many things. I will tell you about it another time, in the second part of "The Time of the Virus", which was not supposed to happen at all, and now it will be continued...
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