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Coronaviruses derive their name from the fact that, under electronic microscopic examination, each virion is surrounded by a “corona” or halo. On a macro scale, the Sun's corona, the outermost part of the Sun's atmosphere, reveals itself to the naked eye only during a total solar eclipse.
Reflecting on this visual comparison acted as a jumping-off point for this personal piece.
Both pandemics and solar eclipses, historically, have brought with them both fear and awe, have reshaped our understanding of the world and ourselves. As a result, they have changed the course of human history.
One example of this is explored in a New Yorker article from 2020. Lawrence Wright interviews a retired professor, Gianna Pomata, who helps us to imagine how COVID-19 could shape our future by looking back to the 14th century in Europe.
She points to how the bubonic plague laid the foundations for the Italian Renaissance, which Wright so aptly describes as "the greatest efflorescence of science and art in Western Civilization."
This idea of a great awakening, the unfolding blooms of possibility, visually links with the same experience one feels during a total eclipse when the corona seems to magically appear from behind the shadow of the moon.
I was with a friend, standing in a cornfield in Oregon when the moon began to cover the sun during the Great American Eclipse of 2017. Daylight all around us began to dim, slowly at first. Then, minutes before totality – the moment when the moon fully covers the sun – a cool breeze suddenly picked up and the temperature dropped 10 degrees. The birds, confused, called for one another, and the crickets at our feet began to chirp as the sky above darkened. Suddenly, the stars were able to be seen during the daytime.
On the horizon, in every direction, it looked as if the sun had either just set or was just beginning to rise. One couldn't help but feel disoriented, paired with a heightened sense of awareness – our hair stood on end as our bodies physically reacted to the emotions that overcame us.
My friend and I looked up and there it was – the sun's corona blooming from behind the dark, silent orb of the moon.
Phenomenons like these connect us. They make us feel alive, remind us what it means to be human. This pandemic and the events surrounding it feel like an eclipse. What we are living through right now is no doubt a dark, challenging time.
But with this darkness comes light in unexpected places – light that has always been there – giving us a once-in-a-lifetime chance to think anew in order to forge a better path for ourselves and for our society. What we do right now matters. Let's make the most of it.