Project Text
I have been observing people’s behavior during this Corona crisis and listening to the quiet of our daily life since the Covid-19 spread out in our society. In Italy the way the authorities comunicated the news and the way the Italians reacted was somehow preoccupying. There was a real collective psychosis. People I knew from long time reacting so badly I hardly recognized them or others who made believe life was normal and doing same thing as before. In the other hand some immediately started coping with it nice and smoothly, doing smart work from home, making nice meals and sharing with the community, broadcasting their everyday life, singing out loud from their balconies, and making believe life was as before. Those are the ones I feel more alike. I think we need positive thinking to make a change, to not become dark.
My son lives in Berlin and as I realized things were becoming really difficult in Italy, I begun to think about him and so I caught a flight and went to visit him. Meanwhile all the flights were cancelled and I found myself blocked in Berlin but I took it as a chance to observe how the berliners cope with corona virus, but mostly to enjoy the desert streets and dream about how will life be after all this.
Germans are for sure are more aware and more disciplined people than the Italians and it’s really interesting for me to live here in this weird moment.
It’s the 4th of April and since I’m here there was no total city lock down. The government allows their citizens to go out using their sense of responsibility, and its working quite right until now. Freedom is the most important privilege humankind achieved and being responsible towards oneself and the others is the best way to help in time of crisis.
I live my life as before but with more attention regarding people and life around me. I am one of those who believe that nature knows what to do. I see this moment of forced stop, to listen to ourselves and listen to the virus warning that we must take care of our health and of our planet.
I hope we come out of it much stronger and more conscious than before and that it may be a lesson to not to take things for granted. We are all very fragile and I hope people understand that the invisible is much more powerful than we can imagine and we had a test of it.
April 4th 2020 Monica Silva - Berlin