Alone. Together.

There's a new hashtag in social media right now: #alonetogether  It's intended to capture the feelings of most of the world that find themselves in self-imposed (or government-imposed) isolation due to the Coronavirus Pandemic.  People are quickly finding out that we miss the one thing that makes us human: social interaction.

The good news, if there is any, is that we are all in this together. It's one of the few things (if there are any others) that I've ever experienced where nearly everyone in the world is facing the same restrictions and limitations.  For the first time I can recall, we all understand each other. And as bad as a dangerous virus can be, the societal lessons we're learning can only help us all appreciate what we have in each other.

We'll get through this. Hopefully we'll learn important lessons about how to live safely with each other, how to protect the vulnerable while maintaining our societal norms, and how to plan effectively for events like this one in the future.  A popular meme making the rounds lately summarizes it this way:

 
I, for one, will never take interaction with others for granted again.