I love your insights and thoughtful reflections.
"This new vulnerability that the entire planet experienced, where for the first time no one was guaranteed life, and death could touch anyone, changed us all."
Well, back during the plague, and other historical periods with mass casualities, life was rarely long. Age 50 was the average age of death....? No antibiotics; one cat scratch could kill. Teeth had to be pulled, not drilled and filled. But in recent generations, our mortality had never been so tenuous.
You nailed it:
"During the pandemic, things went back to being a bit like when we were hunter-gatherers, and we went hunting to feed the tribe without knowing if we were going to return, or like soldiers who go to battle without knowing if they will return alive her. However, life had to go on, and it did.

Great post!
(I have my own concerns about the death toll caused by the mRNA vaccine, but will stay away from that topic.)