Sunday, March 14/21
So last Thursday, March 11th, was the one-year mark since the world stopped in its tracks with the World Health Organization declaration that we were in a global pandemic and we needed to avoid contact with one another.
Workplaces shut down as people were either furloughed or told to work from home. schools sent pupils to begin the revolving online learning, something some of us had done for a course here or there but never in such numbers and never for so prolonged a period of time. Hospitals cancelled elective surgeries and began placing emphasis on treating the hardest hit. Pharmaceutical companies began the rush to find a vaccine to combat the virus.
The last year has seen a wide range of events come about, not the least include......
- Social unrest develop in the United States around inequalities
- The worlds largest democracy hold an election where mail-in balloting, the safest way to vote, led to the largest voter turnout in history, was disputed by the losing party and faced numerous legal challenges that were all proved to be false.
- The introduction of new terms like "Super-Spreader" and "Karen and Darren". The first used to describe public gatherings were attendees didn't practice safe distancing and/or wear masks to lessen the chances of infecting one another. The later term developed to describe people who act so self-entitled that the only criteria they live by are how something might be infringing on their self-perceived rights versus the safety of those around them. Yes, these are the people who claim the right to go maskless and the hell with anyone they might come into contact with.
- The development and testing of not one, not two, but three vaccines from an assortment of pharmaceutical companies that are even now helping to combat this insidious virus that has killed over 2.6 million people worldwide, over 500K in the U.S., and over 22K here in Canada.
- The majority of countries introducing border restrictions would have been considered extreme but for the fact that they actually did help minimize the transmission of the virus. Island nations like Australia, New Zealand, Japan, and to some extent the United Kingdom were able to use these closures to help stall the spread.
The one thing that has stood out for me has been how most people seemed to become more human towards one another, willing to be more understanding, and genuinely caring about those around us.
I know that for myself I can honestly say I've tried to step back and really see how my actions might help or hurt someone and have taken to doing more random acts of kindness as I think they go a long way in helping us see how something so small can mean the world of difference to someone.
We never know what someone is going through and if something as simple as a smile might make a bad better a little bit better, well sign me up today and 3 times on Sunday.
The world is hopefully slowly getting back on track to return to some form of normalcy, whatever that might mean these days, but I earnestly hope we don't lose that small sense of humanity that seemed to come out these past few months as we realized we were all in this together, that working towards a solution was going to take a tremendous team effort, one that we have achieved.
My heart goes out to those who have lost a loved one, knowing that words can never replace that loved one, that only memories now reside where once a person was creating smiles and laughter.
My name is Marcus and my heart aches for what we've had to endure and I hope with everything I have that we never have to experience anything like it again.....
I thought about not adding a musical suggestion to this entry but feel one is probably needed now more than ever so.........
Vivaldi's Four Seasons Symphony feels like the best possible one I can make. As I've been writing this entry I've had a YouTube video running on the second screen from Max Richter. The link is included below for those interested in seeing it.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=w59suJUvGfc
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