During that time we've clapped for keyworkers keeping us safe, be it NHS, Police and other emergency services, armed forces redirecting the priorities, care workers, teachers, lorry drivers, supermarket workers, people working in telecoms (of which I am one). Most of us have trained ourselves to keep 2 metres apart from other people - even loved ones that don't share the same home as us. Most of us have tried to accept and cope with the bizarre practice of having to wear face coverings in public places and bathing ourselves in hand sanitising gel (something that was once a clever idea for taking on days out when you were likely to be far away from any toilet or hand washing facilities, now a necessity just to allow you to open the door of a shop). We've had to work and learn from home.
But we've also learned new skills and found new ways to live; businesses have had to accept that things are different and develop new ways of doing things in order to remain in business.
Since the beginning of March, 2020 has been harsh.
Now we have a new challenge; children returning to school (or starting for the first time at school) and further/higher education. This fills me with an anxiety I have never before experienced. Anxiety about how this will affect the covid19 pandemic - it seems unlikely that this will help us beat the pandemic. Anxiety about keeping my children safe after 6 months of keeping away from people, they are going to be thrown into a non-socially distancing mix with hundreds of other students in a similar situation. Anxiety for those children (again, including my own) who suffer with anxiety; how are they going to cope after being with the family for so long and following all of the social distancing rules, to now be thrown back in with the general populous and a complete lack of social distancing (at least in the classroom)? Anxiety that this can only lead to another covid19 national lockdown, or at least, increased restrictions or multiple local lockdowns.
We've seen riots and demonstrations all breaking the rules and in some cases laws put in place to try to keep us all safe and to try to combat this deadly virus and we have seen that many people are simply far too selfish to care and will still break the law and refuse to do as they are told for the sake of themselves and everyone else.
People have certainly shown what I have always known and said was true, despite people telling me I'm cynical and don't care about people; when it comes to the crunch, there's no consideration for others or uniting against a common threat. No. When the chips are down and we're all threatened you can rely on only one thing - it's everyone for themselves. Communities are not coming together to look after each other, they're panic buying everything because "As long as I'm alright, screw the rest of you". We will never see the coming together of people to help each other out in a crisis that we read and hear about during the first and second world wars. That makes me anxious too, it makes me worrry about the future of humans. Because if we can't all look out for each other, what chance do we really have? Right now, based on this, the future for my kids who are embarking on what should be a magical adventure called life, looks depressingly bleak.
Hope is powerful thing and right now all we can do is hope. Hope that a vaccine is found and this virus is brought under control. Hope that life can eventually return to what we all consider to be "normal". Hope that everyone on this planet can learn something from this awfulk situation and come out all the better for it, to somehow grow spiritually. I hope for all of us.
I hope.