March 17, 2020, was the first day of the end of civilized life, the one for which Western peoples had been fighting for one thousand years. It was the first full day following the lockdowns that ended all rights and liberties, including even the right to have friends for dinner or go to community worship services or attend or hold weddings and funerals.
The sun had fallen the previous day just after the press conference announcing “15 Days” that stretched to 30 days and then to three years of quasi-martial law imposed for a virus. But nature is oblivious to the affairs of men, and so the indefatigable sun rose anyway the next day, as if to do what it had always done: bring its light and warmth to bathe humanity in new hope in the new day.
The sun did peer up over the horizon and did bring its light, but this time it did not bring hope. It shone over a world but only highlighted the absence of joy, opportunity, and excitement over the unexpected blessings that would come our way. All of that had been taken away and suddenly, seemingly without warning.
The sun that day shone a light on wreckage and terror of a society consumed in tyranny and fear. It was there as if to mock hope, its every ray broadcasting disdain for our own sense of security and confidence in the future. Its every hour above the horizon torched our optimism, including all of its signs on earth: music, dancing, and human relationships.
It became obvious that this would keep happening day after day – the sun cares not for lockdowns – regardless of what the masters of the worldly universe did to us. And it was at that point, we all had to make a choice: despair or fight our way through this thicket of disaster.
Some of us took longer than others to decide, which is understandable because the shock and awe imposed upon us also disabled our clarity of mind. Three years later, we should know the answer. We must fight. The sun in its rhythmic regularity of rising and falling is always beckoning us toward living meaningful and free lives. Otherwise, what possibility could be the point?
We recall those days now and wonder how and why this all happened. Not one minute has passed since that day when I’ve rested from asking that question. Every day it feels like we get closer to knowing. And yet the truth keeps being ever more elusive with every revelation of the depths of the conspiracy, the range of the players, the interests at work, and the forever toggle between fear, plot, ignorance, and malice.