CORONA VIRUS DAY 10-WHERE ARE WE?

NARRATIVE DESIGN INSIGHTS ON HOW TO CHANGE THE STORY

Beginning, Middle or End? (BME)

We are not nearing the end
We are nowhere near nearing the end
We are not even at the beginning of the end
We are nearing the end of the beginning
As Churchill spoke during WWII in 1942.
There were 3 years to go back then.
We too have a long way to go.

A story needs Characters, Plot and an Audience (CAP)

Watching as this story unfolds, so far
The Virus is the lead Character (C)
All we are doing is reacting, not responding.
Almost like a dumb and horrified Audience (A)
To a car accident happening in front of us
And the Plot is infection, death and fear. (P)
That’s pretty much the story of the last 3 weeks.

To change that story,

We have to get into the story for a start

We have to stop being passive,
Let’s Take it back from the virus. Its purple flower is the star of the show!
We have to have real Characters emerge (C)
Characters who are determined not just to grandstand, criticize or comment
They must ACT with a sense of the urgency of the occasion, which means

There needs to be a Plot (P)
The characters have to ACT, not just pontificate

And the Audience ( that’s us folks) has to stop being an
Audience to grief
Audience to horror,
Audience to division
Audience to disturbance.

The new story must Audience us (A)  as citizens rising to the occasion
Supporting each other, taking responsibility for each other’s health and well being and filtering out the noise of any political bickering.

Our story is to “Build a Paradise in Hell,” to quote Rebecca Solnit’s amazing book.
If ever there was a Tract for the Times,
this book is it.