We are only humans -all of us!

There is a psychological term that at the moment I wish it could also be used in political planning and our future vision of the post-Corona time. Adversarial growth, which can be loosely translated as growth after bad experiences.

Many people who, after having survived a life-threatening illness, traumatic injuries, physical assaults, the death of close relatives or even war experiences, can not only find their way back to a normal life but instead, go through changes that take the individual to a higher functional level than before the event.

People who have experienced the death of a close relative, or who have survived a serious illness or injury can confirm from their own experience that extreme life events, especially those that emphasize their own mortality and that of people around them, often clarify the view for the essentials. Things that seemed very important before take now the back seat. What is really important becomes clearer. Some then change jobs, others finally do things that they always wanted to do. Many cultivate friendships more intensely than before the bad experience, others finally find the strengths to walk away from a toxic relationship.

The forced rest and forced slow-down that chemotherapy brings with it, give patients a lot of time to think. Priorities are automatically put to the test in the struggle for survival and are reassessed. Should I really go back to the job I actually hate?

The coronavirus forces the whole word to take a break from everyday life. For the first time, many of us understand how interconnected the global economy has been.

The crisis forces people to withdraw into the safety of their own home – and at the same time, it makes it clear that there is not a single human life on earth that is not integrated into global contexts in a variety of ways. Do we really want to go back to the world where global economies are destroying the planet and destroying species? Or will we find a new way?

Humanity will survive COVID-19, albeit with many victims. We should draw the right conclusions from the forced pause for thought and the sober look at the indissoluble global network from which we all benefit so much.

We are humankind, even if some still don’t want to admit it and it is up to us to save ourselves. Together.