When we look back at the history of this time in a decade or more, we will see in a graph the ebbs and flows of curves of the national mood. The initial shock, the coping time when loaves of banana bread fed the five thousand, the novelty of the new situation, the loneliness of our towns and villages with all places of community shut off; the realisation that jobs were lost and may never come back. The emptiness of those Sundays when we were thrown back to the time when nothing happened at weekends without sport or worship, when people spent time together and ate meals at home, cooked in their own kitchens.
And now we are at another phase — when hope seems close, but like a dinghy just off shore, it comes close and then is carried out again on a new wave. So we watch at this shore as the situation keeps everchanging. Arguably, it is at this time that we need each other more than ever. Last winter when the normal loneliness of the long nights was elongated by the restrictions, we all answered the cause and looked out for each other. Now, at the height of holidaytime, with the sun shining into the night and day arriving sooner than it should, there is no reason why we should let up.
Over the past few weeks, I, like many of you, have become aware of sad stories in our villages and towns and cities, tough personal situations that have not been made any easier by the pervading atmosphere of gloom that has been hard to shake off since last winter. There have been tragedies, illnesses, and accidents that weigh heavily on the minds of those closest to them.
People have been reluctant to spread the burden of their pain because in many cases they feel that it is minor compared to the overall weight of the pandemic. But that ought not be the case. We need to be there for our friends and family, our neighbours, our colleagues, at times like this.
For the ills of life, there is a support group. And it is called Everybody.
Think in particular of the younger generation who are starved of the oxygen of socialisation and adolescence; of the vulnerable who are snowed under by the overwhelming sense of negativity.
We can all play our part by just being a bit sounder. Be tolerant of situations, be cognisant of the pressures people are under, lend a helping hand here and there. As the pressure grows on companies to return to workplaces, be cognisant of the respect and dignity of employees; respect too the worries of the employers.
The world will come out of this crisis made better by new practices and technologies. Just like the moon missions fuelled the technologies of the 1970s, what we have developed in this time will make society a potentially better place.
Let us all come out of it better people too. Do what you can. Be sound and be safe and mind each other.
