In a crisis, our society is a little like a giant tree blowing in the wind
I took this shot yesterday afternoon while playing around with slow shutter speeds in my front yard, and the resulting image got me thinking about the current pandemic that is impacting our world.
In a crisis, our society is a little like a giant tree blowing in the wind. Individual people panic and flap about like leaves at the first sign of a slight breeze. Yet they remain held together by the structure of the trunk and branches.
As the wind intensifies, individual leaves panic more and the most exposed smaller branches will fail, snap off and crash to the ground.
Increase the wind further still, and even stable branches will strain and break. Add more and more wind and the trunk itself will sway. Finally, hit the tree with a massive windstorm and it’s only the strength of its core, the solid trunk as well as the depth and strength of its roots that will prevent the whole thing from crashing down.
Without a doubt, we are now in a windstorm. Parts of our society that we rely upon, but often take for granted, are being overloaded. Some will fail and come crashing down. Let’s just hope our tree has a robust and reliable trunk and deep, strong roots. As when this storm is over, all of us leaves will still need our tree to be standing.
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