Out of a crisis comes heroes
Thousands of people were dying, the schools and universities were closed, the future looked bleak, what good could come from this devastation?
Sounds familiar, doesn’t it? I am not writing to you from the middle of the 2020 Coronavirus outbreak, nor from the 1918 Spanish flu, no I am writing to you from the middle of 1665, where the world has been struck by a mysterious illness, whereby if nursery rhymes will be written about it, “ring a ring of roses a pocket full of posies, attisue attissue, we all fall down.
Yes, of course, I am writing about the plague affecting Europe and the UK in the 1600s. Although it seems as if we are in the middle of a completely unprecedented crisis that is, of course, unusual to out way of life, it is not unprecedented, there have been numerous plaques and pandemics throughout history.
The ancient Greeks wrote, “That in times of war/crisis is when you will know your true self, for only in these times will there be heroes born and cowards known.”
We have all heard of the story of how an apple fell from a tree and hit a young scientist on the head giving him the theory of gravity, which is, of course, a myth but in reality, it was very fortunate for many of us that during the plague of 1665 until 1666 (the great fire of London) whereby the University of Cambridge was closed for nearly 2 years. It was during these 2 years whereby a young man born on the 25th December 1642 and at the tender age of only 22 years old found himself all alone and with plenty of spare time on his hands.
What did he do with his spare time? Well basically he came up with the mathematics for the laws of motion and universal gravitation which in turn to could prove Kepler’s laws of planetary motion, account for the tides, the trajectories of comets, the precessions of equinoxes, oh and did I mention he also invented Calculus!
I am of course referring to Sir Isaac Newton arguably one of the greatest scientists that has ever lived. But here is my question, what would have happened if the University had not closed due to the plague? What would have happened to our 2-year-old student, Isaac Newton, who would have had his time filled up with books and learning about other people’s theories?
This is, of course, all irrelevant because Sir Isaac did have 2 years of boredom and free time to think and think he did.
During our moment of crisis, back in 2020, we have seen a massive amount of unusual collaboration from different sectors and parties that would have, before the crisis, never have worked together. We have seen thousands of heroes in the form of our soldiers, not on the battlefields but in and around our own towns and cities, we have seen the heroic work of the NHS, helpers, logistic companies and delivery people, even down to the shelf stacker that ensures we all have something to eat and drink during our lockdown.
Although watching the news every day is saddening and yes there are all certain questions that many of us want answers, just remember that it took a worldwide pandemic and crisis to bring us all closer together than ever before in modern history. Even though we may not physically be able to meet up and join with family members, I believe the ancient Greeks were right in that we have seen an amazing display of heroism by so many that it is humbling and an honour to have been witness to it.
And when it is all over, and it will be over, let’s remember what we all did to get through this and focus on the very best of humanity to build a much better future.
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