The pandemic may be off the headlines…until the next one! Do we remember how alien it felt and all the things we were going to learn from it…or are we just slipping back into old patterns?

Here’s a much shared and meaningful story that you may remember

A terrible storm came into a town and local officials sent out an emergency warning that the riverbanks would soon overflow and flood the nearby homes. They ordered everyone in the town to evacuate immediately. A faithful Christian man heard the warning and decided to stay, saying to himself, “I will trust God and if I am in danger, then God will send a divine miracle to save me.”

The neighbours came by his house and said to him, “We’re leaving and there is room for you in our car, please come with us!” But the man declined. “I have faith that God will save me.”

As the man stood on his porch watching the water rise up the steps, a man in a canoe paddled by and called to him, “Hurry and come into my canoe, the waters are rising quickly!” But the man again said, “No thanks, God will save me.”

The floodwaters rose higher pouring water into his living room and the man had to retreat to the second floor. A police motorboat came by and saw him at the window. “We will come up and rescue you!” they shouted. But the man refused, waving them off saying, “Use your time to save someone else! I have faith that God will save me!” The flood waters rose higher and higher and the man had to climb up to his rooftop.

A helicopter spotted him and dropped a rope ladder. A rescue officer came down the ladder and pleaded with the man, "Grab my hand and I will pull you up!" But the man STILL refused, folding his arms tightly to his body. “No thank you! God will save me!”  Shortly after, the house broke up and the floodwaters swept the man away and he drowned.

When in Heaven, the man stood before God and asked, “I put all of my faith in You. Why didn’t You come and save me?”   And God said, “Son, I sent you a warning. I sent you a car. I sent you a canoe. I sent you a motorboat. I sent you a helicopter. What more were you looking for?”

How about this updated version?

‘Did you not see the signs I sent you?’

• Global temperatures rising; unprecedented annual temperatures. Glaciers and icebergs melting
  • It’s natural fluctuation, global warming is ‘fake news’
• Extreme weather with storms, drought and flooding. Humankind damaging the planet.
  • Man will find ways to combat nature, no panic
• A little Swedish girl with a message for the world.
  • We can’t afford the pace of change these young people demand, they don’t understand economics
• A global economic crisis, leading to austerity and a greater rich/poor divide.
  • We recovered after ten years, back to normal
• Over population and over consumption threatening food and water supplies.
  • Yes, there’s too many foreigners, they need to reduce their numbers

The planet has been fighting back and we have ignored it, rationalised it, and carried on abusing it. So then it delivered a global pandemic. At last this might have grabbed our attention and shaken us up.

But no…. another sign…another shrug of the shoulders!

• A global pandemic, killing millions, isolating billions, shutting down normal life, stopping economic activity

We survived, we’re getting back to normal now                                                                                                                                                               

Covid is being relegated to just another sign that we can ignore. The risk of death in the family and an overloaded health system brought global abuse of the planet very close to home. We imagined the catalytic effect of revolution : new paradigms of economics; the end of old capitalism; changing priorities to what’s really important; the beauty of the simple life

"There is revolution in the air now, but history shows the old order will fight back." said Nesrine Malik

Aren’t we just drifting back? Have we not learnt anything to change our way of living?

Can we not see that the hierarchy of Worry is inexorably taking us to bigger, more deadly concerns?

Each of these spectres may have once been unthinkable (that’s not going to happen, is it), but, in turn, they have happened and are then blown away by what replaces them

• Global economic crisis
• Covid
• Climate change : floods, fires, droughts, hurricanes
• Destruction of species
• Destruction of humanity

Each step takes us further away from what we can control, and therefore gives us an excuse for inaction. We feel angry yet helpless and powerless, and in self-defence resist turning that feeling against ourselves. Easier to run away, leave it to others and then blame them for inaction.

Can we channel the energy from that anger and instinct for flight into action that gives us power?  To run towards adversity not away from it?

Could we have one last chance to listen to read the signs and act differently?

To reduce consumption and give more thought and care to the elimination of waste?

• To accept the changes to life of zero economic growth?
• To restore the unity between humanity and nature?
• To take collective global action in fact rather than treaty?
• To welcome diversity rather than fear it?
• To live on what we need, not want, and help others do the same?

Or is it already too late?

History lessons of the future may show that these trends were emerging and growing in the early twenty first century, led by rebels, dissidents and ridiculed pioneers. Those who saw the signs that were sent.

It may also show that real radical change doesn’t happen by evolution, but it is punctuated by crisis. In today’s ‘small world’ the crisis hits everyone. Will we all get the message?