The Eclipse: People Yearn for a Big, Shared Event

People yearn for a big event. For something larger than life. For something that unites them. The solar eclipse provided that for many today. In this case it was benign, and harmless. But in other cases — not so much. COVID provided the same escape hatch for “something larger than myself.” COVID was a calamity. Not the virus itself (mostly just a nasty flu), but the ensuing economic and psychological destruction. It will take years to recover, and most may never fully recover, especially children. We let the media and government blow a hole in young people’s lives, all so mass numbers of neurotic adults could feel a sense of toxic meaning.

Millions signed on for the B.S. because the media told them it was real, important, and just as the media told them it was. It led to disaster. Today’s eclipse mania was not destructive. But it sprang from the same faulty premise as COVID. “I need something to make me feel important, like I belong.” Isn’t your LIFE enough? Isn’t that important enough? If not, you’re vulnerable to manipulation and treachery. Be careful. And don’t you dare impose your lack of fulfillment on others who already know how to enjoy and find meaning in life. Don’t make your existential neuroses a healthy person’s calamity.