The world is at a standstill, and long lines at local supermarkets and banks are the order of the day. Social distancing is the new catch phrase, parents are complaining about being at home with their children, and some teachers are wondering how many of them ever actually spent any time with their offspring at all.
“How could you not know how your children are?” and “Now you see what we teachers have to go through”, are some of the comments floating around online as teachers get a much-needed break, and parents try their hand at homeschooling (sans capital punishment) in an environment where no one really knows how soon schools or anything else will be open again.
Times are changing indeed, and people are becoming more distant, yet in some ways, closer. Most are remaining indoors as much as possible, as evident by the empty roads and streets. As local supermarkets and other essential businesses tighten up their own safety measures there is also likely to be a barrage of grinning people who are glad to have stock piled all their groceries ahead of time, including huge bales of toilet paper so they have little to no reason to leave home at all!
Amid the chaos are some wins, like those nature related, which was touched on in last weekend’s editorial. Compassion and generosity also seem to be more widespread as many people with the means who have been touched directly or indirectly by this global crisis are reaching into their pockets to donate to the cause. There is also the reality that this pandemic appears to have set the wheels in motion for several other things, like this week’s quick-fire move of the Victoria Hospital to the OKEU Hospital, something which had been hindered by red tape for years. It all goes to show that once hindrances are out of the way, things get steadily in motion!
Despite everything going on in the world and within our own country, the most heartwarming part of this week had to be the smiles on the faces of the nurses and doctors and other medical staff who have been advocating for the move to OKEU and a general revamping of the Victoria Hospital for many years. Hopefully with this new move, the days of hearing about the health-related atrocities and lack of supplies and proper medical care at Victoria Hospital will be a thing of the past!
Things are upside down, but the world can take comfort in the fact that we are #AloneTogether in this crisis that has been described by many as knowing no bounds and being no respecter of persons. The #AloneTogether campaign which is more than appropriate for the current state of affairs was created by Dazed Media, an international publishing powerhouse. The campaign aims “to keep community spirit, to act on solidarity, and to support and protect the most vulnerable around us” in this dire time, and indeed, knowing that we are #AloneTogether is something we all need to remind us that we will in fact get to the light at the end of the tunnel.