Peoples unite
WHAT an extraordinary month it’s been!
I can’t remember anything like it in my lifetime, which began 81plus years ago and including being a toddler and primary schooler during World War II, although I must admit I really don’t remember a great deal about that.
Well, I think I can remember something about post-war rationing when I was sent to Grays grocery store, in East Geelong, to get Dad’s tobacco, among other things, when he returned from the war.
For some reason the tobacco sticks in my mind. But, back to the present! Yep, my wife and I are in lockdown, although I walk to get my newspapers every morning and we do have a longer walk most days, following the self-distancing instructions as we also do when we visit our Coles supermarket.
My wife of 57 years turned 80 last Friday week, but no party, only visits from her two sisters.
We read about the impact of the coronavirus worldwide, nationally and at state and local levels, the daily infection rates and death tolls, the almost daily changes in restrictions and closures of businesses and the swiftly rising unemployment rate and wonder about the future.
Yes, there is a lot of gloom and doom.
Just a humorous aside, former mayor of Geelong Jim Fidge, who very recently suffered a stroke and is in recovery, used to call me “the editor of the Daily Gloom and Doom” back in the 1980s, when I was editor-in-chief of this newspaper and he had the top job at City Hall.
I was concerned enough at his title for me to spend hours looking through three months or so of our newspaper back then and found good and bad news was about equal, but perhaps the bad news had a bit more prominence?
But nothing like the gloom and doom of today!
Pages and pages of it in every newspaper and almost every story on television and radio news broadcasts devoted to this single issue and its impact and potential impact on our community and the wider national and international communities.
But I have found some positives among all the widespread pessimism — and I do get annoyed at those commentators who constantly criticise Australians.
Yes, many panicked and emptied supermarket shelves when the pandemic first reared its ugly head, and a very small minority hit the headlines for fighting over toilet paper but, at a local level, my personal experience has been anything but negative.
Most people have adapted to the restrictions imposed by various levels of government and both friends and strangers I have met on my walks and shopping expeditions have done so while retaining a sense of humour and concern for others during the crisis.
We have read about or seen news items also on those who want to help the most vulnerable during these trying times, which reminds me of the old saying: “Hard times bring out the best in people.”
Yes, this crisis may get worse and there are many people hurting, not only through them contracting the virus, but through the economic hardship resulting from decisions by governments and councils to contain and beat it.
It’s a bit of a shame that the early bipartisan approach of our federal politicians has not been maintained and, as the pandemic has caused tougher changes to earlier decisions, the parties have drifted apart.
Maybe a bit of advice to the major parties at state and federal levels.
A new saying thrown up by this crisis that I have responded to and, perhaps they should too, is: “We are all in this together!”
And we are, regardless of race, religion or nationality, this plague crosses all boundaries and should unite us all, even our politicians, to forget about petty political pointscoring and work together in their people’s best interests.
So let’s ensure that governments and councils use our money — and the taxes and rates they control are our money — wisely in the interests of the wider community to help the workers and businesses and others who have, are and will suffer financially.