Corona Virus - The Silver Lining Thread

[Lou]

I've been having misgivings about the title of my Crazy Thoughts thread for a while. But I think I'll keep putting the meat and dairy plants' closing news in there. Although we vegans may see those things as silver linings - we are also a compassionate group and can't help feel bad for the unemployed workers and the depopulated livestock. And besides, who know if those things are going to have good results in the long term.

I guess conversations about bean shortages and vital wheat gluten prices should go there too - those are not silver linings.

So I'm thinking this thread could be for all the silver linings we can find that are the result of the pandemic. Some good news among the gloom.

Dr. Gregar's Silver Lining of the Coronavirus Pandemic article was the seed for this idea. Then today I read that NYC had it's longest stretch without pedestrian deaths since they started recording that stat in 1983.

New York City breaks record: 58 straight days with no pedestrian deaths

It has been hard to find any kind of silver linings since the coronavirus pandemic has essentially put life on hold for much of the nation and the world.

abcnews.go.com

 

[Mischief]

I think these kind of threads and thread titles are at best tone deaf.

This pandemic's direct and indirect death toll is likely to end up being in the millions, if not tens of millions, and many, many more will suffer economic and other hardships for years.

It's like telling a family whose child has just died: Look at the silver lining - there's all the money you're going to save on food, clothing, schooling. You're going to be in a much better financial position come retirement!

It also reinforces the perception that vegans are indifferent to human suffering.

 

[Emma JC]

I don't agree @Mischief - I think that the sooner we realize that the world is going to be a different place, than it was up until a couple of months ago, the sooner we will adapt to this new reality and so figuring out what those silver linings are is very important.

I cannot stop death and sickness from occuring whether that is from Covid or from cancer or from heart disease and that doesn't mean that I shouldn't live the best life that I can and to find all the possible goodness in the world and share it.

What is this new world going to look like and what will our part in it be? Hugely important to start working that out so thank you @Lou for starting the thread.

Climate change is another huge issue that is hovering over us and so between a pandemic, a climate disaster looming and throw in the economic disaster l will take every silver lining that I can find.... so bring 'em on.

One for me is smiling every day at my neighbours while pot-banging. It truly is a joy and we also had the Snowbirds fly over on the weekend and so that was another shared experience.

I am speaking more with family than I normally do and so it is a joy.

My spouse is not having his contract renewed mid-June and so although our income will stop we will still try to find a silver lining there and maybe move to another home or he will find a new and better contract or maybe one of us will write a book... who knows.

I love how much quieter the traffic is outside and how clear the skies are.

Emma JC

 

[Mischief]

I don't agree @Mischief - I think that the sooner we realize that the world is going to be a different place, than it was up until a couple of months ago, the sooner we will adapt to this new reality and so figuring out what those silver linings are is very important.

I cannot stop death and sickness from occuring whether that is from Covid or from cancer or from heart disease and that doesn't mean that I shouldn't live the best life that I can and to find all the possible goodness in the world and share it.

What is this new world going to look like and what will our part in it be? Hugely important to start working that out so thank you @Lou for starting the thread.

Climate change is another huge issue that is hovering over us and so between a pandemic, a climate disaster looming and throw in the economic disaster l will take every silver lining that I can find.... so bring 'em on.

One for me is smiling every day at my neighbours while pot-banging. It truly is a joy and we also had the Snowbirds fly over on the weekend and so that was another shared experience.

I am speaking more with family than I normally do and so it is a joy.

My spouse is not having his contract renewed mid-June and so although our income will stop we will still try to find a silver lining there and maybe move to another home or he will find a new and better contract or maybe one of us will write a book... who knows.

I love how much quieter the traffic is outside and how clear the skies are.

Emma JC

I think there's a big difference between saying, "This experience has taught me to appreciate X. Or, thus experience is really underscoring our need to work on Y" and saying, "It's a real shame 80,000+ people had to die in this country so far to accomplish it, but, gee I'm really enjoying the reduced traffic noise and clear skies. "

By all means enjoy the silver linings you find in the deaths of people you love, but if you express to me that you are finding silver linings in the deaths of those I care about, my reaction to you will not be one in which you find a silver lining.

 

[Mischief]

Based on 121 pedestrians dying in NYC in traffic related incidents in 2019, we could have expected 19 such deaths during the 58 day period.

Of course, only an additional 24,000 deaths, just under 19,000 of which were directly caused by COVID 19, during that same period were necessary to achieve that remarkable "silver lining."

 

[Emma JC]

a silver lining is something that you find despite a horrid event, not because of...

It breaks my heart that there are so many people dying and suffering as it does every day for so many reasons and yet we have to soldier on.

I was just speaking with my 97 year old dad who is terribly scared today as he is feeling depressed from being locked in his room as there is Covid in his nursing home. He was worried that depression is a symptom of Covid. That breaks my heart too, that he is scared and lonely, what is the silver lining? all of my siblings will be calling him every day now and so will the grandchildren. Would I rather he wasn't scared and lonely? yes and yet some good will come of it.

Maybe I am just a glass half full kind of person and so will always look for the good side of things - I think it used to be called Pollyannish.

Emma JC

Definition:
The common expression "every cloud has a silver lining" means that even the worst events or situations have some positive aspect. You are most likely to remind a sad or discouraged friend that there is a silver lining as a way of cheering him up. The origin of the phrase seems to be John Milton's 1634 poem "Comus," which includes the line, "Was I deceived? or did a sable cloud/Turn forth her silver lining on the night?"

 

[Mischief]

a silver lining is something that you find despite a horrid event, not because of..

Then you, Lou and I are all misusing the term.

The reduction in pedestrian deaths in NYC is because of the coronavirus caused reduction in traffic, not despite it.

Your clear skies and reduced traffic noise is because of the coronavirus, not despite it.

 

[Lou]

Granted this is a real disaster and should not be taken lightly.
Maybe finding the silver lining is a survival skill. Without optimism we would all just lay down, give up, and die anytime real opposition raised its ugly head.

 

[Emma JC]

Then you, Lou and I are all misusing the term.

The reduction in pedestrian deaths in NYC is because of the coronavirus caused reduction in traffic, not despite it.

Your clear skies and reduced traffic noise is because of the coronavirus, not despite it.

yup you could be right

Emma JC

 

[Emma JC]

this is one example of something positive... if only the US would be supportive...

New resolution on immediate global ceasefire presented to UN Security Council

Germany and Estonia submitted Tuesday a resolution to the UN Security Council on a ceasefire in various conflicts around the world during the coronavirus pandemic, to replace one drafted by France and…

www.france24.com

Emma JC

 

[Mischief]

Granted this is a real disaster and should not be taken lightly.
Maybe finding the silver lining is a survival skill. Without optimism we would all just lay down, give up, and die anytime real opposition raised its ugly head.

I think that believing/hoping that things can be improved (i.e., optimism) is something quite different than thinking there are benefits to tragedies.

I rank "Every cloud has a silver lining" up there with "What doesn't kill you makes you stronger"(tell that one to anyone with PTSD/depression/anxiety/etc. as a result of childhood abuse or other trauma) and "God doesn't give you more than you can handle" - trite, and insulting to the ones who have suffered the actual losses.

Now, if you're the one suffering the loss, and it makes it easier to bear if you can believe it, more power to you.

But, you seeing the silver lining in other people's tragedies? There's nothing admirable in that.

 

[Sax]

There's been a nation-wide cycling boom. I'm seeing a lot more riders out there...bikes are almost sold out everywhere and old bikes that have been collecting dust are getting repaired and ridden again.

 

[KLS52]

Was going to say something. Changed my mind. Again.

 

[Lou]

I hadn't noticed more cyclists. Could be I'm not looking. Or maybe its just we already have a lot and the difference isn't easily identifiable. What I have noticed are lots more pedestrians. Walkers, runners, dog walkers.

In fact, if there is one segment of the population that is enjoying the quarantine here in California it is the dogs.
They must think they have died and gone to dog heaven. Their people are home all day and they get to go on lots of walkies.

 

[windrose]

I was watching a program the other day about the manufacturing of a "shot" for the virus and was shocked to find they are extracting plasma from cows blood. Apparently they can bleed a cow for plazma 3 times a week versus once a week from humans

 

[Raven]

I was listening to the podcast of a British GP today and he was talking to Vivek Murthy who was the US Surgeon General under the Obama administration and is now the author of a book. He was saying that through his work he noticed that the thread running through so many social and health problems, touching people of all ages, was loneliness. He was saying that he hopes there will be a social revival after this pandemic and people start to realise how much they should value and prioritise human connection.