Taking back the hope the pandemic stole from us

The pandemic was a global catastrophe yet we moved on immediately. The second it was declared over everyone was all gas no brakes with their newfound appreciation of freedom. Schools opened back up, everyone started traveling the world, offices mandated a RTO, and the indoor parties kicked off. The world moving on was inevitable.

However whenever I talk to people about the pandemic there is this feeling of immense avoidance. Some change the subject immediately while others rolls their eyes as if this subject is beaten to death. I disagree completely. We all went through this horrible global crisis together for years. Shouldn't we talk about it?

In 2024 a Director for WHO called the phenomenon "collective amnesia." He was referring to how everyone's desire to move on has eliminated the good habits we learned from that time. I think it is more than that. Our collective amnesia is so strong that we aren't willing to process what happened.

Historians observed something similar happen after WW2. It was easy to be distracted. Millions of soldiers returned home all at once, rapidly married, bought a house, had children, and created a new global economy. Thanks to a cocktail of economic, familial, and societal pressures all their trauma was pushed deep down. Generations later we're still uncovering the stories of what previous generations were unwilling to talk about. And that's not even covering the civilian victims of the war that had to pick up the pieces of their lives and move on to survive.

Again we bury our trauma.

I distinctly remember this feeling as a teen after 9/11. Now I'm seeing it play out again at global scale post-pandemic. This trauma and its suppression is creating an environment where nobody can see the light at the end of the tunnel. Whether I'm in the boardroom or the cafe it feels like I'm constantly shaking people to wake up to a better reality.

It is immensely evil how our news and social medias feed off this. Billions of people were trapped at home with nothing better to do than to watch the world end on CNN and Tiktok. Maybe everyone was consuming negativity and simply never stopped. It doesn't have to be like this. Your experience of the world doesn't have to be this way.

You know we got problems when I am the optimist. While there are reasons to be negative (now and forever), there is legitimately so much to be hopeful for in our future.

You must choose to operate toward an optimistic future. Fight for hope no matter where you are or who you are talking to. Seek hope where you have none and share that gift with others. That is the only way to move forward.