With or Without Covid: a tale on human vulnerability

Abstract

The Covid-19 crisis leaves us with a lesson in the form of reminiscence. We don’t learn anything new from it, but it reminds us of something we knew and had forgotten. It shows us our vulnerability in a new light, the inability to perfectly protect ourselves through prediction and control. Science does not predict with absolute certainty, and technologies do not keep everything under control, even if the former and the latter play many other praiseworthy roles. Ideologies can’t see the future, try as they might. And yet, we are not without reliable guidance in deciding our actions. This guidance must be sought in what we are, not in the future. It is the fidelity to our common human nature that must advise us. It is the full realization of our personal being, of our peculiar vocation that guides us. So, the means for self-realization lie in the development of a virtuous character. This is the very same character that has mitigated the havoc the pandemic has wreaked, as to some extent, it was already present in many of our fellow citizens; the very same that would have alleviated even more suffering if only it had been present in more people and to a greater extent.