There is usually very little warning when a tsunami approaches. It is triggered by an earthquake miles away; concealed beneath the ocean floor. When the ocean is deep, a tsunami can travel unnoticed on the surface at speeds up to 800 kilometres an hour. It can cross an entire ocean in less than a day. By the time it is close to the shore, you may hear a loud roar - a bit like the sound of a jet engine. Sometimes the sea retracts back exposing part of the ocean floor. At other times the tide just quietly rises higher and higher, often without anyone even noticing.

Covid-19 has been much the same. 

It came silently, unexpected and unnoticed. Like a tsunami triggered from a distant earthquake, the first tremors were felt thousands of miles away from us. We gave them little attention. But the faraway roar grew slowly louder and before we knew it, it was moving at high speed across the ocean closer towards us. 

In many ways, as we enter the second half of our 21 day Covid-19 lockdown, South Africans are still waiting for the real wave to hit. We’re running to high ground, towards the solitude and safety of our homes and away from the rising waters. We’re praying that our high ground hideouts and physical distancing will lessen the size of the tidal wave, perhaps even flatten it and prevent it from sweeping ruthlessly through our cities, townships and villages. 

At this stage it feels much like an uneasy waiting game. It’s as if the world and nature has silently pressed the ‘reset’ button and everything is uncertain. 

What will the next game look like, how will we learn to play it and what will the rules be? 

The world as we once knew it is changing before our eyes and right now nothing is certain except for change. Most of us find change scary. Change demands us to think differently and find new ways of doing and being. Change sits outside our comfort zones and pushes us to take risks, to be creative, to let go of comfortable habits and to move in unexplored directions. But, as Viktor Frankl once said: “When we are no longer able to change a situation we are challenged to change ourselves.”

I find myself both challenged, excited and even terrified by these words. But if there is one thing I’ve learnt in the study of story, it’s that no good story was ever born or told without hardship and resistance. Authors and screenwriters will tell you that it’s the essence of all great stories. It’s the very thing that grows and transforms the character. 

“If the point of life is the same as the point of a story, the point of life is character transformation. If I got any comfort as I set out on my first story, it was that in nearly every story, the protagonist is transformed. He's a jerk at the beginning and nice at the end, or a coward at the beginning and brave at the end. If the character doesn't change, the story hasn't happened yet. And if story is derived from real life, if story is just condensed version of life then life itself may be designed to change us so that we evolve from one kind of person to another.” – Donald Miller

 Could it be that the best part of our story hasn’t yet happened? 

 As we sit tight, locked down in our high ground homes and hideouts waiting for this tidal wave of change, let’s try our best to move past our fears and instead use the time to gather ideas, to gather strength and to gather confidence. 

I believe that when we rally together, to resurrect, restore and reinvent both ourselves and our communities, we may just begin to write the most unforgettable chapters our stories have ever seen…