What Kind of World Do You Want?

Last week Debby Giusti blogged about using the pandemic as a backdrop to our stories. Today I want to take you in a different pandemic direction. 

I'd like to chat about story worlds and our real world in light of the strange situation we find ourselves living in. I want us to envision the new world we can create for ourselves  just like we create our story worlds.

Here in NY, in just over one month, we went from having no diagnosed cases to (at last count) having 251,690 confirmed cases and 14,828 confirmed COVID-19 deaths.

I realize that might make my reality (not leaving the house except to walk the dog for 6 weeks now) different from the reality for a lot of others. I would like to hear what life is like for you. 

So where am I going with this?


I've read a lot of articles in the past few weeks speculating on what life will be like once we get past this pandemic. People are wondering if we can ever go back to who we were several months ago. 

I think the question really is - do we want to?

Have we learned anything in the past 6 weeks?

I listened to a report earlier today by someone who was commenting on how 3 months ago, no one would have believed you could so effectively shut things down and have people throw themselves into self-isolating.

I've also seen lots of speculation about what kind of people we might be when we emerge. Will this experience have fundamentally changed us, or will we shrug it off and move on?


Peter C. Baker, in his article in The Guardian stated, "Some believe the pandemic is a once-in-a-generation chance to remake society and build a better future.


Designer Fabio Novembre went one step farther. He put a call out. "We are dreamers. Let's try to dream about a different world, a better world," he said. "This is the greatest chance we might have."




All this discussion reminds me of Five for Fighting's song World.




"World"

 Got a package full of WishesA Time machine, a Magic WandA Globe made out of Gold
No Instructions or CommandmentsLaws of Gravity orIndecisions to uphold
Printed on the box I seeA.C.M.E.'s Build-a-World-to-beTake a chance - Grab a pieceHelp me to believe it
What kind of world do you want?Think AnythingLet's start at the startBuild a masterpieceBe careful what you wish forHistory starts now...


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What kind of world do you want?  
I have some questions I'd love for us to discuss, so I hope to hear from you. 

We're pros at building the kind of fictional worlds where people long to live. How can we turn that talent on our real life problems?

How can we use our stories to build a better world? Can we deliberately craft a message in the hope of inspiring people?

What kind of world do you want? If this really is a chance for people to stop and think and reimagine our world, what would you keep? What would you change?