This is it; we are in it.
There will be no return to the pre-Covid world.
Working from home, or at least in other than large, centralised offices, is acceptable and for many, strongly preferable, and will persist.
Social distancing has become more natural when amongst those we do not know. This has implications the way we plan and build anything from a garden fence to public infrastructure
Suffocating ourselves with masks, which are becoming a fashion item, while mandatory from time to time, will probably remain with us more widely when some of the restrictions are eased.
Being more accountable for educating our kids, which might be a good thing in a few cases is adding all sorts of pain to domestic life. Now, the cohort from 5 to 20 at least, has been denied 2 years of access to the school system. Flawed as that system is in many ways, at least it was more ‘averaged’ than trying to home school, and study remotely.
Business models are being destroyed, while new ones sprout like mushrooms after rain
Our behaviour patterns have been polarised. One hand we are suddenly more aware of the need for ‘community’ and are more dependent on them, while on the other hand, we are even more suspicious and unhappy with strangers.
The use of digital communications has skyrocketed (did you note my avoidance of the term ‘zoomed’) and as a result we are learning the value of face-to-face communication. We are a social species and talking to someone across a screen is not the same.
Un, and under employment is now seen as normal at higher levels than pre covid, therefore the need to take control of your own life, exercise initiative, take personal risks, to make your own way financially, is even more important. We are, however, not a community of risk takers. Despite our view of ourselves as laconic self-reliant individuals, we are just the opposite, always seeking the solace of group approval.
We are scared and fractured in ways not seen for several generations. ‘Common courtesy’ to strangers seems to have taken a dive. I was roundly and loudly abused a few weeks ago in a supermarket, just before we got locked down, again, for being so bold as to offer help to a woman in a wheelchair struggling to pack her shopping after going through the checkout.
Perhaps the worst part is the lack of leadership displayed by bickering politicians, distorting and selectively using the ‘numbers’ from various sources that suit their current narrative, while ducking for cover and shifting blame. I admit it is easier with the benefit of hindsight, but there has been so little transparent honesty displayed that trust is so eroded that we no longer believe anything we are told, and hope is absent.
There is a ‘national cabinet’ meeting later today. This was a process that started with the first wave of covid last year with much hope, and public approval, that has degenerated into just another political clown show. I predict the prognostications after the meeting show no sign of genuine leadership, accountability, or acknowledgement that we are all in this together.
I truly hope I am, wrong, but am, prepared to give long odds.
Header cartoon credit: www.Gapingvoid.com.
