Maybe it's time to look beyond luxuries

If you’re at home listening to the national hyperbole, you might think the nation is closed down. It isn’t.

Just take a look at the list of “essential” services here in New Mexico, the ones allowed to remain open during these “stay at home” times. There’s a long list of businesses, agencies and governmental operations that are allowed and encouraged to stay open.

Basically, those businesses offering up the luxuries of our lives are the only ones forced to close. If no one has to have it for their health, safety or welfare, it’s closed — or only available online.

Where I live, in this small town along Interstate 40, I don’t see much of anything completely closed. We are largely a service economy, and while it’s taking a hit with restrictions designed to impose social distancing — motels restricted to 50% occupancy and restaurants that can’t serve sit-down meals — there are few places that are completely closed.

I haven’t been to Albuquerque since our governor urged us to stay home but I’ve been told there’s a different feel to the city, where people seem to be more nervous about being out and about. That’s understandable, since COVID-19 is breaking out in higher concentrations in urban areas.

But there’s also a partisan tinge to the perspectives people have about this pandemic, since it’s hitting hardest in the Democratic cities of our nation while the Republican rural areas have more elbow room and fewer coronavirus victims.

Still, it’s more than that. Democrats believe in science, which has been saying for weeks now that there’s a big storm coming and we’d better all find shelter before it hits. Meanwhile Republicans believe in President Trump, who blew off the storm at first, then got serious about it after reality set in, all the while refusing to take any of the blame for our nation’s lack of preparedness.

Batten down the hatches, everyone, April will be a tough and tragic month. Social distancing is more than a novel idea now. It’s common decency as we continue to weather this pandemic storm. Of these harsh realities, perhaps now we all can agree.

But here’s a heretical thought: Maybe this pandemic is exactly what our economy needs. Maybe we should be stripping ourselves of the luxuries that have spoiled us, and get back to the basics of life.

With modern technology at our fingertips, we could actually rebuild our economy in such a way that the Earth itself could return to health.

This pandemic is a 911 moment. The world will never be the same. Let’s make the best of it.

I don’t know about you, but I’d rather embrace a better world tomorrow than to go back to the one we had yesterday.

Tom McDonald is editor of the New Mexico Community News Exchange. Contact him at:

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