The worldwide responses to — and changes resulting from — COVID-19 may have you feeling as if you’re suddenly living in one of those apocalyptic books where the author assumes a disaster and imagines how the world will cope in the aftermath.

Books and movies of this nature, as well as Bible verses, song lyrics and political speeches have all supported the adage, “United we stand, divided we fall.”

Unity has carried us to triumphs in the past, will guide us through our current crisis, and should continue to do so into the future whether it’s world pandemic, global markets, or an evolving society.

One of the deadliest pandemics in human history was the Spanish flu that began in 1918. It is estimated that this flu infected a fourth of the world population and the resulting death toll was in the tens of millions.

At the time, there were an estimated 2 billion people on Earth with a literacy rate of 30 percent, which means only 600 million people had the brain power for solving problems.

Fast-forward to today. We have a global population of 7.5 billion people with an 86 percent literacy rate, which means we have current brain power of over 6.5 billion people to be part of the effort to fix what’s broken. Add to our advancements in technology and medicine, as well as our ability to share information across the internet in seconds, and we now have tools that are greater than anything our ancestors could have possibly imagined.

World governments and central banks have taken drastic actions to limit damage as the economic activity of nations has been halted in an effort to decrease the spread of the virus. These actions have included emergency interest rate cuts, the promise to purchase unlimited amounts of government bonds, additional worldwide quantitative easing measures, government loan guarantees, efforts to pay workers’ wages, and promises to do whatever it takes to combat the economic disaster.

Global markets are writing new history of their own. On consecutive days, global stocks had the best and worst trading sessions in a decade.

Wall Street just experienced it fastest bear-market plunge in history, ending the longest bull market in U.S. stock history. In barely a month, the FTSE 100 (an index of the top 100 stocks on the London stock exchange) lost eight years of gains.

No one can predict the near-term outcomes of the global effort to address the COVID-19 pandemic, but we can look to the future and be ready for the changes that lie ahead.

We should recognize that in the midst of the current chaos, there is a new world struggling to be born. To prepare, I believe we need to focus on such things as: virtualization of events, activities and interactions; automation of processes and services; retooling of supply chains; intensification of digital infrastructure; revamping of capacity in healthcare; coordination of policymakers and pharma companies to speed up trials of new vaccines and medicine that are both affordable and available; and political and economic decentralization.

Our old normal was once the new normal for our grandparents in the mid-1900s. Although this new normal feels so shocking to us right now, it will simply be normal for our children and grandchildren.

Globally, we have more educated people, stronger connections, faster sharing of information, and more technological tools and scientific knowledge than ever before in history. The number of people who can be part of the cure is unprecedented.

There’s never been this kind of motivation combined with this level of capacity around the world. Our spirit and efforts can unite us all in this time of need.

Social distancing can, ironically, draw us closer than ever before. We will emerge with a stronger sense of a collective society rather than an accumulation of divided individuals. This is our moment to truly come together.

Wendy Bennett is a senior financial adviser at Bennett Associates Wealth Management in Butler.