Coronavirus is tragic and the economic impact is sad, but it also highlights many things about our society.

The air is cleaner now.

Many are spending time with family in ways they haven’t in years, if ever before.

We are slowing down. More time at home. With loved ones.

Of course the loss of life is devastating and it isn’t something to scoff at that millions of people are losing their jobs and in economically challenging times.

But perhaps this “time of the Virus” is a wake up call.

Why does it take a pandemic for us to have clean air and no pollution?

Why does it take a government shut down for us to spend time home alone with family rather than running and flying around hectically?

How much of our society was previously wasteful, overly consumptive?

Perhaps by forcing an Old Way of operating to collapse, this pandemic is giving us a Gift.

Maybe this time is shining a light on the possibility of what a New Way might look like.

Perhaps on the other side of all of this, we can remember some of the positive aspects of this time.

Maybe we can be less wasteful. Be better to our planet. Maybe we can get by with less consumption. Less hectic flying around and excess.

Maybe we can slow down.

Perhaps this “Virus” is the Earth’s way of sending us a message that the way were previously operating was inconsistent with a healthy planet and way of being together.

Hopefully, we can use the wisdom we gain from this time home together to forge a New, Healthier Way Forward.

What does it say about an Economic System that we can’t stay home with one another for a month to keep each other safe and healthy without it collapsing?

Perhaps this time is simply shining a light on how deeply broken things had become with the way we’d been living for so long.

Rebuilding and reimagining what our Economy and Society will look like on the other side of this time will not be easy.

We must get people back to work and creating again.

But perhaps we can do so in a way that honors the things we’ve learned about what was wrong before.

We have the potential to Modernize America: to redesign our Transportation, Energy, Land and Water systems and to create tens of millions of jobs in the process.

We can do so while honoring our Planet and one another.

The way forward is hopeful and promising.

In these challenging times, I’m optimistic that we’ll honor the gifts that we are given of being with one another and that we’ll come together to rebuild and reimagine an economic way forward that is healthier for us and our planet.

God Willing. We will find a Way together.