As people around the world are contained to their homes, the appearance of choice and personal freedoms seems increasingly scarce.

Gathering with friends and family has become a thing of the past. Sitting down in cafes and restaurants is an image tinged with nostalgia.

Going shopping for anything other than groceries has largely been relegated to online territory along with much of our lives. It seems likely that more video calls have been made in the past month than in the past decade.

While isolation can at times be incredibly disheartening, it could be a lot worse. Though there is a police presence enforcing the lockdown rules, we are still permitted to go out daily for exercise. In some places, like Spain, even a casual stroll or a morning jog was off limits.

For the elderly and those with compromised immune systems, living in a country with a well-equipped healthcare system is little consolation. The sight and proximity of others, not to mention the nightly news, would be anxiety-inducing at best. Even as restrictions are gently relaxed, many will still need to remain inside and ever vigilant.

But while the pandemic is frightening and isolation is hard, we should not despair. Certainly if we’re fortunate enough to be of good health and good sense, we have plenty with which to steady ourselves.

Ultimately, while restricted in almost every physical sense there are still plenty of choices available to us as to how we live throughout this unique time.

We can, as at least one world leader has chosen to do, quibble and lash out and complain about the set of cards we’ve been dealt, many of which aren’t nearly as bad as those of others seated at the same table.

Or we can find the resolve and the fortitude to get through this period. There are opportunities that arise in each situation — the virus acts as a kind of circuit breaker. An absence of physical socialising makes us conscious of those we value, and social distancing has no doubt led many of us to rekindle relationships we’ve been otherwise too busy to maintain.

A sudden dependence on technology has in a sense made us appreciate the moments when we don’t need or use it. Whether it’s embracing those we’re bunkered down with or indulging in the pursuits still available, it’s a pause from the hustle and bustle of a modern life.

I have spent part of my isolation revisiting a favourite book, Albert Camus’s The Plague, with new eyes. The book tells the tale of an Algerian town locked down in order to control the pestilence that has visited upon it.

Camus’s characters must grapple with their own individual challenges as they face a collective kind of chaos. But in each challenge, the individual is presented with a choice.

“This whole thing is not about heroism,” the protagonist Dr Rieux says. “It may seem a ridiculous idea, but the only way to fight the plague is with decency.” Another character asks what decency is. “Doing my job,” the good doctor replies.

And so must we embrace decency over panic and fulfil whatever roles we are left with at this juncture, whether it be calling a friend in need of a conversation, delivering groceries to someone who can’t venture out themselves, or simply not indulging in panic. It may not seem like much, but decency is a job in demand — now more than ever.

Jack Derwin is a senior reporter at Business Insider Australia. His interests include all aspects of social justice particularly in the South Pacific region.

Tui Motu Magazine. Issue 248 May 2020