What are we going to say or think once this lockdown is over and this pandemic is subdued? Frequently, but not always, we have a tendency to “look back,” and as we do so it is often with rose-tinted glasses. For example, after World War I, and even now, the British have this view of the prewar period—the Edwardian Age—in which their empire was glorious and life was opulent, and much safer. The TV series “Downton Abbey,” for example, starts at just such a point (1912) and then unpacks what happens when world events intervene in the otherwise comfortable lifestyles.
Interestingly, of course, the same sort of romantic fictionalizing of history did not occur in Britain—and, I imagine, in America—after World War II, for in this instance the Great Depression was simply too great and too recent for anyone to want to go back to those “glory” days. But that said, the principle remains that we do tend and want to glamorize how things were before. And in the case of COVID-19, we will have plenty of reasons to want to look back: nearly full employment, rising wages, a booming stock market, health care and education mostly available for most people in the West, plus entertainment and circuses everywhere with which to console ourselves and readily available 24/7!
