Anyone else feel like I feel like “flatten the curve” is going to be the defining phrase of our generation?
Two and a half weeks of lockdown in Germany, and it’s not getting better – yet. They keep saying it will get better soon, and we all remain hopeful, but the numbers keep climbing, and people keep dying. I don’t think I’ve ever spent so much time in my life staring at graphs, and I keep telling myself that the curve will flatten.
The thing about two-and-a-half weeks into lockdown is that a simultaneous feeling of brilliance and terror has started to sort of underlie everything. On the one hand, people are being ingenuitive, creative, patient, and are truly trying to make the best of it. On the other hand, it’s a depressing, unsure, and anxious time.
And to add insult to injury, along with around 200,000 other people in Germany, I lost my job this week. The company I was working for functioned in the B2B sphere, and because all businesses are pretty much closed for the foreseeable future, the customer base dried up to literally zero, with no sign of recovery on the horizon in the coming months, or probably even in the next year. So the powers that be decided to just call it a day.
The great news is that that social security system in place in Germany is very good, and we will all be paid for three more months, and then receive 60% of our salary from the government until we find new jobs.
It’s not really a great time to be job hunting though, and with so many people unemployed, any job that does come up will be highly competitive. That being said, the wheels will keep turning, and we’ll all carry on. There is a little voice in my head however that tells me it could all get worse, but I try to keep it quiet by, I don’t know, watching a Netflix series about gun-toting maniacs with pet tigers and exotic animals in America.
Lockdown also puts the unemployed in a position with even less to do than in normal circumstances – it’s all well and good to “make art, be creative, come up with ideas, and projects,” but for those with a tendency towards depression or depressive patterns, a situation like this is a nightmare. And if someone has lost their job, and are being asked constantly what they did today, what they’re working on, etc. it can lead to deep feelings of worthlessness.
Why aren’t I as amazing as that person planning a new startup? Why don’t I have the capacity to do something great now? There is a certain pressure building, as people project constantly that this is the time to do everything you’ve ever dreamed of. Maybe it’s not, and maybe for some people it can’t be.
I went for a walk on Friday evening, feeling pretty low after having found out about my job, and I heard music blaring out of a neighbouring apartment block. Ready to have my disgust affirmed, I walked past to see that it was literally two women in the ground floor apartment with the window open, dancing around in their living room and trying to bring some life and atmosphere to the street, without breaking any social-distancing rules. It was honestly the most lively thing I’ve seen in weeks, and this is Berlin.
As for what I’ll be doing now? Well, there’s a tricky 1500-piece puzzle on my floor waiting for its moment.
In all seriousness, however, Germany is having a bit of a crisis dealing with the spring harvest. Usually, seasonal workers from various eastern European countries come over to take up the casual work, but with borders closed, that’s no longer an option. So, there’s been a callout to those who have been let go or stood down, to come and help pluck asparagus – and I’m honestly thinking about doing it. I don’t have any medical experience, so I can’t help in the hospitals, but I just personally feel like I could be really good at picking asparagus. Maybe this is my amazing, creative, quarantine project.
Another little light that flickers in the distance is that this whole disaster is waking people up to the cracks in our system. It took capitalism two weeks to just about capitulate, and for a swathe of conservative governments to be forced into pseudo-socialism. Maybe now we’ll all wake up bit and strive for a system that fosters equality over profit. Or maybe we’ll spend a few months in hibernation, and return even hungrier for consumerism than before – only time will tell, and I think we’re all more consciously aware of time than we ever were before.
Stay physically distant, but close at heart. Stay safe, stay healthy.