When I was little, I heard many stories of the hardships of war (WWII) from my parents. Both parents served in the Air Force; and they spoke of their fears of friends not returning from missions, dying alone abroad. I heard about the rationing, during and after the war, and how everything changed. I didn't understand, I simply couldn't comprehend those things, only in part because I was a child, but mostly because it was not a lived experience.
Today, I think I can understand a little better with the things they told us. Their enemies were more tangible than ours, and mostly on foreign shores, but just as scary. Our foe is in some ways more difficult, because it's not something we can negotiate or reason with, it "must" be fought and defeated if we want to survive.
Just as the last great war changed my parent's generation's lives, this pandemic is changing ours.
