We are, at the moment, in the middle of a world that seems to have gone crazy. As the Coronavirus spreads and cases of Covid-19 grow, social media is replete with jokes and struggles about toilet paper scarcity and social distancing.

It seems fair to say that, at this point, virtually everyone in the country is experiencing some impact from the effort to mediate the spread of infection. Schools are closing nationwide, including here in Illinois. Events are being cancelled, businesses are closing their doors to decrease engagement with larger groups of people, hopefully all just for a limited period of time.

It’s a huge change for a lot of people and, jokes aside, it’s clear there are folks who are uncertain how to weather the time disconnected.

All of it makes me think of the contrast of modern life against what our ancestors would have experienced only a few generations ago. When our old house was built in 1861 it’s certainly not the case that there were no cities, but life out here on the prairie would have included a level of social distancing by default that was far beyond what we are encountering now (and let’s not even get into the question of toilet paper). While there were towns, to be sure, and cities in the distance, I had to imagine that there were periods of time when the people at a given homestead went days or even weeks without seeing others. They muddled through with limited entertainment options - likely a book or three (one most certainly being the Bible), and the farm work and handicraft that they engaged in. And they only had each other for company (which likely explains, in part, why older homes were not built on an open concept floor plan).

None of which is to say that those prior generations were better than us - I’m not about to suggest that we all tear down our cities and towns and move out into the country. It’s really more a matter of what you live with and get used to. They didn’t have all of the entertainment options that even we in the rural world can access now. They weren’t better, but they were definitely more used to filling empty time. And, of course, they also had more that they needed to do - washing machines and dishwashers and Amazon, etc, free up a lot of time that our forebears would have used just for daily maintenance and care.

So now we have that time free, but it’s unoccupied. But if we look back we know that those who came before us were able to weather through it. And that means that we can, too.

Take care.