As people's frustrations rise, economic woes multiply, and some signs emerge that the spread of COVID-19 is slowing, the desire for a return to pre-lockdown "normal life" grows stronger. Yet the changes wrought by the epidemic will likely not fade soon, if ever, forcing organizations and individuals across the spectrum—nonprofits, foundations, citizens, governments, families—to grapple with what "normal" means now and in the future.
Marcie Bianco (@MarcieBianco), editor: For people under the illusion that there was a “normal” beyond the habitual actions of their daily lives, life during COVID-19 is the new “normal.” There is no returning to memories of what was. And for this reason, I have turned my attention to reading fewer articles about the deadliness of the pandemic and more about how COVID-19 is affecting extant societal ills. In particular, the pandemic of violence against women—never adequately addressed because it is perceived as “normal”—has taken on new forms in this time of quarantine and shelter-in-place. Earlier in April, The New York Times reported that domestic abuse has risen globally since the outbreak of COVID-19:
“As quarantines take effect around the world, that kind of 'intimate terrorism' — a term many experts prefer for domestic violence — is flourishing.”
The Times also reported that there has been a decline in domestic violence reporting to authorities, indicating that victims are in severely dangerous and compromised shelter-in-place situations:
“Law enforcement officials and social workers say there are some signs strife is quietly escalating behind closed doors. Calls to some organizations that provide shelter to battered women, for instance, have increased sharply.”
What these reports tell us is that while shelter-in-place orders are intended to save our lives—and, just to be clear, the orders are saving us—they also place women who live with violent partners (male or female) in precarious, unsafe situations.
Jenifer Morgan (@jenifermorgan), contributing editor: As SSIR’s new series “Centered Self” points out, people working on social change often get so wrapped up in the productivity, effectiveness, and impact of their work, they forget about taking care of themselves. This is despite the fact that inner well-being is deeply connected to their ability to do their work well. I’ve enjoyed reading or listening to other recent takes on this idea, including this op-ed by Aisha S. Ahmad, an assistant professor of political science at the University of Toronto. Ahmad offers three tactics for ignoring “coronavirus-inspired productivity pressure,” based on her experience working in disaster areas, and how to adapt to what she believes is a new normal. And in a recent webinar, the ever-inspiring Parker J. Palmer, founder of the Center for Courage and Renewal, suggests working in a way that subsumes the “effectiveness standard.” He says, “Without throwing out effectiveness, we need a higher standard, and my name for it is faithfulness. I don’t mean anything high and mighty by that. I mean faithfulness to my own gifts, faithfulness to the needs I see around me, and faithfulness to finding ways in which my gifts can intersect those needs, always understanding that I can’t take care of everybody and everything, and I must take care of myself.”
Eric Nee (@ericnee), editor in chief: Having people stay at home is an important way to slow the spread of the coronavirus. But being isolated for weeks and even months is also having a negative effect on a growing number of people’s mental health. Among the most affected are young children who don’t understand why they can’t go out and play with their friends, take a walk with their parents, or go to school. Spain has put in place a draconian rule that has all but locked children in their home since mid-March, with predictable results. A woman who lives in Valencia writes about how this has affected her and her toddler. Another writer explores the isolation that people are feeling by looking at the experiences of those who lived in Sarajevo in the 1990s when war ravaged the Bosnia city. If you, your loved ones, or your friends are having problems adjusting to the lockdown, here are a few websites with good information about how to stay mentally healthy during this pandemic: Mental Health America has a long list of articles; the National Alliance on Mental Health has a 22-page guide with advice and readings; and the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention also has resources that everyone can understand and use.
Aaron Bady (@zunguzungu), editor: It’s been strange watching words like “essential” and “frontline” get commonly applied to retail employees and medical care workers, so routinely forgotten and underpaid. Before the pandemic, how many people would describe a grocery store cashier as a “hero”? But when you’re stuck in your house, you start to think a lot about where your food comes from, and who will take care of you when you get sick. It’s been horrifying to see so many minimum wage workers expected to work without protection—offered only words like “hero”—but I want to also hope that maybe we, as a society, are starting to think about what really matters in the world, and what sustains life: the people who feed us, and care for us. As mutual aid networks spring up, and a few politicians drill down on what “essential” really means, what if we’re seeing a paradigm shift in how we think about the society we’re living in?
M. Amedeo Tumolillo (@hellotumo), deputy editor of digital: A climbing gym feels essential to me and my health, but I'm pretty sure I can and should do without it to help stop the spread of COVID-19. I want to test drive a new phone but I'll be fine waiting until Apple stores reopen. However, I definitely don't need to go gun shopping. Others disagree. And that's a problem. People, cities, and states across the United States and rest of the world don't share consensus on social distancing guidelines, what makes an organization "essential" enough to keep open, or other steps to battle the epidemic. The individual approaches can undercut the communal need to contain COVID-19. The solution may involve a practice that civil society knows well: collaboration. As John Kania and Mark Kramer write in the influential SSIR article on the topic (one of 10 essentials of social innovation), a key to successfully working together is having a core group of leaders decide to "abandon their individual agendas." That can be a hard cultural pill to swallow in the land of the free, but crises can trigger deep changes beyond the immediate reaction. In the meantime, the United States could take steps toward protecting the vulnerable people disproportionately affected by COVID-19 by categorizing nonprofit service providers as essential, writes the CEO of Root Cause, Andrew Wolk. Can we agree on that?
Furthermore:
- We Are Living in a Failed State: The coronavirus revealed what was already broken about America
- The coronavirus butterfly effect: Six predictions for a new world order
- When clinging to America’s individualistic ideals in a pandemic means letting poor people die in service of the economy, society cannot hold
- Covid-19 Nonprofit Resources
- Coronavirus Innovation Map
- Amplifier has an open call for artwork related to COVID-19
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