Why you should continue to listen to music, read good books, and post funny videos

Why you should continue to listen to music, read good books, and post funny videos

As I sit sequestered in my home with my wife and dog, I find myself sucked into a funk as every conversation, news article, twitter post, etc., is about the Coronavirus. Right now, music, TV, books, and work all seem … trivial. How do I get out of this stifling malaise?

I found an answer, and some solace, when a friend of mine shared a link to an article called C.S. Lewis on the Coronavirus. Here Lewis talks about living in the Atomic Age, but the article suggests substituting “Atomic Age” with “Coronavirus.” Lewis asserts that living under the threat of death, whether from a bomb or a plague, is not novel to humanity, and we cannot let fear dominate our lives.

Here’s a snippet.

This is the first point to be made: and the first action to be taken is to pull ourselves together. If we are all going to be destroyed by an atomic bomb, let that bomb when it comes find us doing sensible and human things—praying, working, teaching, reading, listening to music, bathing the children, playing tennis, chatting to our friends over a pint and a game of darts—not huddled together like frightened sheep and thinking about bombs. They may break our bodies (a microbe can do that) but they need not dominate our minds.

While we should not play tennis, and any pints we share will need to be online, we should engage in human things and connect with each other.

So please, listen to music, read good books, post funny videos, and in my case, blog about data visualization. It is through these activities that we can connect.

This is what makes us human.