Editor’s Note: This column is the opinion of Bishop Michael Goings and does not necessarily reflect the views of The Dillon Herald.

There is a question or statement that is being echoed by many who, like all of us, are being affected by the onslaught and siege of the coronavirus. That concern is when will things get back to normal. Nothing that we have experienced in the history of this nation, whether it was war, the Great Depression, the Cold War, or any other cultural or social phenomenon has interrupted our normality like COVID-19. The issue that all of us must be willing to consider and perhaps accept and adjust to is that we are going to have to live with a new normal. Whether we like it or want to or not, this pandemic that regrettably caught us by surprise, due to a great degree of negligence and unpreparedness by our Federal Government, going back quite a few administrations, has produced a paradigm shift. This paradigm shift has brought with it a new normal and reality that has already signaled some potential changes in the way we have grown accustomed to doing things. Is this pathogen a harbinger of things to come, if we do not take heed and learn our lesson or merely an adverse and awful act of nature like many of the plagues of the past? At this point, I want to consider and present to you some food for thought.

Is Hand Shaking Obsolete in the New Normal?

Many are advocating and making a strong argument against the common practice of handshaking as a part of the New Normal. At the front of this argument is Dr. Fauci, the Director of the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases. His very rational argument is that abstaining from the common and long standing practice of shaking hands is not only an effective and practical way of not only keeping COVID-19 from spreading, but also a way to control and contain other contagious diseases, like the flu and future plagues and pandemics that can be commonly transferred and spread with a handshake. To be perfectly honest, I have mixed emotions about whether or not we should abandon this very common greeting altogether when the crisis of the coronavirus has subsided and is no longer a threat. Though the handshake is solely a cultural and secular way of greeting with no biblical or spiritual precedence or significance, I have grown accustomed to it like multiple millions of others in our culture.

It is going to take much effort and getting use to so that we do not go back to doing it when things get normal again, even if forbearing handshaking is not a part of the New Normal.

Will Social Distancing Be a Part of the New Normal?

Like me, many are wondering if the practice of social distancing will be a part of the New Normal. How long will the practice of social distancing have to be maintained in order to curtail and control the spread of the coronavirus? I, for one, believe that it should be observed until this vicious virus is completely brought under control and our pharmacologists and research doctors are given ample time to invent an antidote and vaccine. Nevertheless, the thought of practicing a permanent form of social or physical distancing is absolutely unthinkable and unachievable. For one thing, our economy would never recover if that was the case and millions of hard-pressed and presently unemployed Americans would never regain their financial footing. Then, to myself and perhaps all other true servants of God would be outraged and up-in-arms, if permanent physical distancing was a common practice forbidding us as Christians from gathering. Thank God we see light at the end of the tunnel.

Prospective New Normals That Might Become Routine

Before the ill-fated day of 9/11 (when Islamic extremist and terrorists committed the greatest act of terrorism ever perpetrated on American soil), no one could have ever imagined that such an evil and cowardice act would forever change our nation and that it would create a new normal of awareness and preparedness for another terrorist attack.

After all, they had caught us sleeping and took advantage of our apathy and grave lack of vigilance, like the Japanese had done at Pearl Harbor (a day that President Franklin D. Roosevelt declared would live in infamy).

The coronavirus, like both the Japanese had done at Pearl Harbor, as well as the terrorist who brought down the Twin Towers of the World Trade Center on 9/11, has brought some new normals. Though most of these new normals will only be temporary, due to the urgency of the moment, there are perhaps some that will be necessary to maintain in order to remain vigilant and be prepared for the next pandemic attack. Though we may hate to accept and acknowledge it, we have entered a new era when plagues will most likely become more common place and occur more frequently and with greater intensity and adverse effect. Is this one of the grave consequences of global warming as the Pope recently alluded to? Can it be that nature herself is striking back at humanity for its abuse and dereliction of duty as the primary caretakers of the planet and its various ecological systems?

Then there are the biblical and prophetic words of our Lord that He spoke concerning the signs that would be harbingers of the last days and His imminent return to a planet besieged by evils, atrocities, and perplexities. His inerrant and prophetic words will serve as our climax and conclusion:

“For nation shall rise against nation, and kingdom against kingdom: and there shall be famines, and pestilences, and earthquakes, in diverse places. All these are the beginning of sorrows” (Matthew 24:7-8).