My Take on COVID
Six months ago, we were all going about our business, taking for granted the relative safety of our environment… and then Covid slithered in, hissing and spitting its venomous presence into our collective lungs.
Like the song, “Every breath you take, every move you make I’ll be watching you”. All of a sudden, every person and every surface became suspect as we washed our hands obsessively and compulsively and stood apart from friends and family.
Those we trusted and loved became unseen enemies, maybe harbouring viral droplets.
Some of us reverted to a better version of ourselves, immediately reaching out to help others.
Some of us became policemen in our neighbourhoods, ensuring that the masses behaved and tut tutting their concerns to anybody who would listen.
The conspiracists surfaced, making sure that we would be very afraid because they were now right. And being right is so satisfying but only for the person who’s right.
As the bumper sticker said, “Just because you’re not paranoid, it doesn’t mean they’re not out to get you.” “They” were out to get us.
Evidently being terrified means you don’t catch things, only more fear.
The latest theories and cures flooded the Internet. To be honest, Covid is an awful threat and we needed to be a bit scared. But the Internet also became a way to put people in their place. Discussions could be downright nasty. “Surely you don’t believe that rubbish. I only believe material from trusted scientific sources.” But were those sources trustworthy??
Even world leaders espoused some crazy antidotes.
“Looking for a way to prevent coronavirus? Have you tried eating Mexican mole, or driving a tractor … what about drinking cow urine?
With the number of confirmed cases of Covid-19 now more than 650,000 and growing at a rate of knots each day, the pandemic has, understandably, caused panic in people across the world, leading several leaders and public figures to come up with some unusual claims in a bid to restore calm.
In Mexico, the governor of the state of Puebla, Miguel Barbosa, caused outrage on Saturday when he suggested a vaccine had already been discovered for the virus – it is a culinary speciality made from turkey and mole, a traditional Mexican marinade, he said. The dish also happens to be from Puebla.”
Bill Gates became suspect. He had a plan when the vaccine became available. We would all be lined up and forcibly vaccinated. That way we could all be controlled and made to only buy Microsoft products.
The first lockdown was bearable. Our team of 5,000,000 banded together to fight the enemy. We fought it in the skies and on the beaches. It was like D day with a C and we were on to it. 25 x 1000 piece jigsaws were my shield against isolation. Like the French Resistance, my sources brought me an unending supply, slipping them on to my deck in brown paper bags and texting me to tell me my eagles had landed. Such fun!
The second round hit me like a ton of bricks. Mid-winter, dark at 5pm, deprived of vitamin D and people to play with. No pool to swim in, the beach was often fraught with howling winds and horizontal rain.
I had so much time on my hands. I lost the ability to see enjoyment in the little things. At times I resorted to the “thinkies”, usually in the middle of the night. The thinkies also slithered in uninvited. I mulled over all my failures, especially as a parent. Hopelessness clawed around the edges of optimism and I felt myself slipping down a Covid cliff.
Then one night I had a mini-epiphany.
The question that came to me, courtesy of my faith, was this. “Are you the only person in the world who is expected to be perfect? Are you the only one who has never made mistakes?”
Commonsense began to seep into my psyche. I reached out to my friends and they did the best thing in the world. They listened. Slowly but surely, I got my equilibrium back and began to look forward again.
Team NZ and I would all be Ok.
Frances
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