A new beginning ?

Had it not been for the Covid 19 outbreak my husband and I would probably be either travelling or at least preparing or planning for a trip. Facebook reminds me I was in Japan a year ago. Now that I am stuck at home with all activities suspended I begin to wonder how my mum spent her retirement.

Other than an occasional trip with my aunties on package tours to China, she pretty much stayed at home with my father, especially after she found it difficult to step onto a public bus. Newspaper and TV were the only source of media and entertainment. I do remember she spent a lot of time on the telephone (using direct home line) with my aunties, friends and children. Though my mum was a good conversationalist I still wonder what she and my aunties talked about over the phone so often.

Trend forecaster Li Edelkoort says the Coronavirus epidemic offers " a blank page for a new beginning" that will allow the world "to reset its values" following a deep recession. As the epidemic disrupts supply line and inhibits transportation and travel, people will learn to live with consuming less. She calls it a "consumption quarantine". She remarked that the air above China is evidently cleaner with the two month suspension of production and people will learn to appreciate that.

I feel that for people to appreciate a different lifestyle apart from travel and indulging in consumption choices the disruption has to be very prolonged. Only then will people embrace a new way of living. Forced into social distancing and being holed up at home for a long period of time, people will have to resort to spending time with family members, trying new recipe, playing  music, reading, writing, gardening, being with nature and soul searching, basically a bit back to basics and self introspection.

When people discover and get used to a fuller and freer way of life, a 'post consumerism' world may emerge where addictive consumerism and high speed existence is no longer appealing. I have often wondered about an alternative to the growth economy model which our world functions on.

A wishful Utopian Dream? Maybe not. A phoenix may rise from the ashes.