Will this be our new normal or will things go back to normal?

[R. Hartono]

9 hours ago, OneLight said:

Normal is only a state of mind.  There is no real universal definition as to what a normal life was.  No matter how it turns out, we will learn how to cope with and live through it.

Suffering ends when one dies, don't worry.

[other one]

10 minutes ago, Figure of eighty said:

I hope it does burn out and go away 

so do I....   but I worry about the politics involved..

[warrior12]

The system has a foothold, so to speak on the population. They can pull the strings and call the shots as they are doing now. For instance, if they say a second wave of this is starting to occur,then another lockdown or whatever can be implemented.  So, it is not back to the normal as before, even with a vaccine .  The fear factor and precautions will implement many new "normal" that would become part of life.

A little of my thoughts, are that as technology evolves at the speed with which it has been, many new advances will allow for new liberties that we had to be curtailed, like driverless cars, trucks and buses ect.   There are many things that we the public don't know about yet that will be unveiled in the next couple of years, be it medicine, food and lifestyles, with the aim of protecting the planet.

This situation we are in now is to condition people also to be more accepting of the things to come. Stay tuned. 

[Jostler]

2 hours ago, Figure of eighty said:

What? Starvatio ? What would make u say that? We still have food.

 

Famine is a distinct possibility.  It's on the list of things Jesus warned us to be on the lookout for in Matthew 24 and other places (Olivet Discourse).

Quote

Mat 24:6-8

“And you will hear of wars and rumors of wars. See that you are not troubled; for all these things must come to pass, but the end is not yet.

“For nation will rise against nation, and kingdom against kingdom. And there will be famines, pestilences, and earthquakes in various places.

“All these are the beginning of sorrows.

COVID-19 has caused all kinds of disruptions in many supply chains, things we no longer make in the US are all very vulnerable to shortages and in many cases just becoming unobtainable.  Even our internal production and processing of meats is under tremendous stress right now due to meatprocessing/packing plant shutdowns.

That has produced a two pronged crisis, with ranchers having no place to sell their herds (wholesale oversupply - falling prices for farmers already struggling financially), and has even resulted in significant losses due to culling herds that were ready for sale because they can't sell them and can't afford to keep feeding them.  That production, millions of pounds of meat protein, is lost forever.  And has left ranchers teetering on the brink of bankruptcy with some likely going out of business forever.  A cow is not a computer.  You don't punch a button and get a new calf.  Bovine gestation is similar to human coming in at about 9.4 months on average, and it will take over a year after that to bring a newborn calf to maturity, ready for sale.  Whatever "gap" forms from culling herds now and over the next few months will take over two years to overcome, so even now we're looking at less supply and higher prices for at least a couple of years.  The situation is similar in the hog industry, with similar if slightly shorter recovery times due to the fact pigs produce more than 1 piglet per pregnancy, gestation and maturity take less time as well.  But with that said, as at about May 4th, 40% of beef production and over 50% of pork production was no longer headed for grocery store shelves, and if that is not reversed very soon, it's going to have a very long term effect on our protein supply.

The second prong of the crisis is just that, a lot less meat available for consumers to buy.  Which inevitably means higher prices for what is still available, and if just a few more things go wrong, could result in too few total calories available to feed our whole population.  Famine.  The poultry production industry is having similar problems though i didn't find any statistics to tell how bad chicken production has been hit so far.  If people are eating less meat, then pressure on other sources of calories will rise, especially proteins, and prices will likely be higher for all food in months to come.

And all this comes on the heels of a number of assaults on the food chain, world wide over the past two years.  Global grain production has fallen drastically two years in a row, with massive drought conditions in Australia for several years (Australian has historically been the "bread basket" grain producer for much of SE Asia for a long time now) and last year Australia became a net importer of certain grains for the first time in decades.  Rice production in several major rice producing regions globally have been having bad years.  China lost a full 50% of it's hog production last year alone do to a virulent pig flu that swept through their pork production system and is still spreading in surrounding nations.  Again, there's about to two year lag for breeding and feeding to plug that hole, because current production has to be diverted from sellable pork to reserving females for breeding, and the time needed to mature to breeding age, gestation...and THEN feeding out a new generation of pigs to sell for meat.  Not to mention the disaster that hit the most productive grain growing region in the world last year...our own midwest.  Spring rains and flooding prevented millions of acres of corn, soy beans and other grains altogether....never got planted at all.  Other acreage did get planted, late in the season, didn't perform well (reduced yields due to soggy soils) and then to top it off, much of even that got stranded in the fields, unharvested due to unusually  early snowstorms last fall.

We're not going back to what was "normal" six months ago...ever.  The faster we can manage to get past the mental/emotional shock and begin to look forward the better off we are going to be.  We may not be facing famine ... but if just a few more things go wrong with the food chain, we could be.  Global food supplies are at lower levels than we've seen in modern history, and supply chains are not adapting to the new situation well at all at this point.  There is more to be watching, locusts in Africa and SW Asia....etc.

We may not know exactly how this will turn out....but "watchers" should be keeping an eye on this, and be praying about it.  It's certainly a situation that COULD develop into exactly what Jesus told us to watch for, and should not be dismissed lightly. 

Look up....these are Bible days....

 

[R. Hartono]

This situation will look like a picnic in the coming great tribulation.

We need Christ to come and fetch the wise virgins.

Do not love this world, foolish virgins shall b left as they only care for the world to recover.

Edited May 11, 2020 by R. Hartono

[luigi]

I'm in the New York area, and I just heard that though the governor had plans to slowly start reopening next week, it now looks like this will be postponed until next month, if even then.

The reason for this new agenda is that Covid-19 which had primarily been killing the elderly, seems to have mutated with the new strain now affecting children. Somewhere around 85 children in New York have tested positive for covid-19, with three of them dying. That's more than a 3% mortality rate.

Edited May 11, 2020 by luigi

[OneLight]

12 hours ago, other one said:

so do I....   but I worry about the politics involved..

When this passes, they will find something else to sink their teeth in.

[other one]

[Figure of eighty]

On 5/11/2020 at 8:33 AM, luigi said:

I'm in the New York area, and I just heard that though the governor had plans to slowly start reopening next week, it now looks like this will be postponed until next month, if even then.

The reason for this new agenda is that Covid-19 which had primarily been killing the elderly, seems to have mutated with the new strain now affecting children. Somewhere around 85 children in New York have tested positive for covid-19, with three of them dying. That's more than a 3% mortality rate.

Wow that's crazy.

[Guest]

On 5/10/2020 at 5:42 PM, OneLight said:

Normal is only a state of mind.  There is no real universal definition as to what a normal life was.  No matter how it turns out, we will learn how to cope with and live through it.

Normal to me is to be free to live our lives. To act and be human beings. Not to cover our faces and avoid all physical contact. This virus is stopping us from living, it has destroyed my life. I hope it is conquered soon. But i know it will take a long time to restore normality, it is now not a world i want to live in. 

I put my trust in God and in obeying official instructions from our governments.