Shock

I have written story 825.  175 more and I will be at 1,000.  All things being equal that is like in 175 days’ time.  By my calculation that is sometime in September.  The world is likely to be a very different place then.
Hope it is anyway.  This self-isolation is novel, but the novelty is wearing off.  Besides, too many are doing it tough.  Not only do some lose their jobs, but they can die!  That is one way to end temporal suffering.  Not the best way - but one way.  Alan Ball said “…everything changes, don’t take it personally.”  I reckon dying is fairly personal.
Comes as a bit of a shock really.  Still, I suppose I should get used to shocks.  There have been some and there will be more.  Nothing we have not seen before mind – just all on top of each other.  That is the way it has been here.  Drought, bush fires, floods, virus, crimes committed.  Shocking.
Once major shocks were spread out.  The Rwanda massacre was a shock, as was 9/11 and the gfc.  They were spread out over 30 years or so.  Now the shocks are coming thick and fast.
Though it is probably as Elisabeth Kubler-Ross said, “Any natural, normal human being, when faced with any kind of loss, will go from shock all the way through acceptance.”  It seems to me there are things we should never accept, but I do think a numbness and acceptance comes from what once shocked.
It appears some are railing against the current virus.  Acting like it does not exist.  I really do not mind what people believe, I just do not want a belief to endanger me or mine.
I do think though some shocks can be good.  Like being shocked into action.  I can be in a real state of inertia.  Happy with the status quo. Suddenly something happens to make me realize the world I had been living in is not the way it will always be.  I cannot control all outside events, but I can control me.  Decision time.  Time to do something.
But I do believe Alvin Toffler was right in saying “Man has a limited biological capacity for change. When this capacity is overwhelmed, the capacity is in future shock.”  What I do not want though is to set my own limit.  Sometimes my capacity is more than I think.
Eric Burdon said, “Everything changes and, somewhere along the line, I'm changing with it.”  I am glad he was changing.  I do not know it is a given though.  It seems some stop changing like there is nothing left to learn.  I’ve got news, and it is not good. 
I may be treading water, but the tide can still be going out.