Contagion: Promise of Utopia?

Rainbow seen on April 27, 2020 that may
have inspired this post...

    I am still, to some degree, a product of my teen years in the late 1960s and early 1970s.  It was the time of Woodstock, the Age of Aquarius, the Summer of Peace, antiwar protests, feminism, the ecology movement, the civil rights movement, the gay rights movement, and more.  It was a time of change and hope.  It was a time when many of my generation believed, if only in our youthful optimism, that we could and would create a better world.  We were on the brink of that Age of Aquarius and it was to bring a change in human consciousness that would bring peace, harmony, cooperation, and prosperity for all us.

Fast forward fifty some years  and it hasn’t happened yet.   People and nations continue to act in self-interest.  With all of our technology, knowledge, and speed of communication, there is still a great distance between the rich and poor.  We act in the short term hoping that advances in science and technology will save us from the perils of overpopulation and the depletion of the resources of this planet.

It is not my intention to paint a grim picture in the midst of this pandemic.  It is more so to set the stage for a naïve hope I am about to reveal. 

During this unprecedented time, the entire world is fighting the virus and our lives and economies are on-hold or decline.  We are collectively unsure about our short-term future on a grand scale.  We have yet to find a cure though, slowly, we are learning to manage the contagion via testing, temperature monitoring, and isolation as needed and waiting to get back to some semblance of what we call normal. 

In this we have seen a reduction in air pollution, the planet is actually vibrating less, and people are spending more time with loved ones which is generally positive.  I got to thinking that maybe just maybe we have a unique opportunity to achieve of the emergence of a collective consciousness that takes us to that Aquarian ideal, a perfect world, a utopia.  It makes so much sense.  Something like this pandemic should have us all taking stock of what is important and not only questioning our priorities but realigning them for betterment of all of mankind and world we live in. 

Alas, I see no one really talking about such things; at least, no one I know.  There is not one leader suggesting a new level of global cooperation with a long-term perspective.  What I see is everyone wanting to return to the way things were two months ago.  Certainly, that is the life and lifestyle we are all used to. 

But, come on, I was really hoping this could that event that would move us, en masse, to a better place, to the creation of a utopia

A utopia is an ideal; a dream.  It is a concept.  It cannot be achieved.  It certainly cannot be achieved in a few short months during this pandemic.  I know this but still I had hope.

This is a dream of the 60s, that while diminished, still lives in me.  I am glad for that.