- Since the pandemic has struck, can you think of new “civic activities” that have arisen. What are they? What are the civic commonplaces that they embody?
There are many civic activities that have arisen due to the pandemic. The first primary civic activity that many engage in is sanitation. Especially during this pandemic, sanitation played a key role in preventing harmful germs from traveling to the body through many parts such as skin, mouth, eyes, etc. As many people can intake many chemicals or harmful substances through the mouth when they breathe, masks became especially important to wear as the disease particles can move through the air. When people have dirty hands, the harmful germs from the hands can travel into the body if you simply touch your mouth. A civic commonplace that this civic activity embodies is hand sanitizer. The hand sanitizer is a symbol of good sanitation which embodies getting rid of and preventing bad physical health. It became very commonly used that the hand sanitizer even became a symbol that can be used for getting past the pandemic.
Another civic activity that has arisen is making accessibility more widely available. As the pandemic struck, many organizations turned to virtual means for carrying on the daily tasks that help human society function. Whether it was schools or jobs, the feature of virtual tasks helped allow many people to continue on with their lives without abruptly halting and getting behind in their work. Even as the pandemic is becoming less and less of a problem, this accessibility still applies today. For example, if there are issues with the weather that makes it unsuitable for students to travel to school, then there are still virtual features that make education accessible. If someone has to stay home for most of the day to take care of someone or something that would need frequent attention, there are accessibility options for that person. A civic commonplace they embody is “Everyone does not have equal talent, but everyone should have equal opportunity to develop that talent.” This commonplace shows that everyone should have the same opportunity to pursue and partake in daily life and be an active citizen of society. Making accessibility features gives everyone that equal opportunity to complete their lives despite any obstacle that comes in front of them.
The third civic activity that has been recently getting popular is donating money to healthcare systems. Though this idea has been around before the pandemic, donating money to healthcare systems became even more of a civic activity and responsibility through the pandemic. Because the pandemic has caused so many health problems in terms of the physical body, donating to the healthcare systems to make sure they have enough resources to help the people around them, especially those who may not even be able to afford such healthcare, has proved to be a civic activity. A commonplace that is embodied by this is the quote “Be the change you want to see in the world.” Because everyone wants to see healthcare get accessible for everyone as that accessible healthcare can apply to them at one point, the common place is embodied by the donating money as donating money shows that they want the healthcare system to be accessible for everyone and have resources just in case of emergencies.