A lesson in resilience
‘‘O tempora, O mores.’’ Caesar Augustus
I am writing this on day one of the level 4 lockdown, and you will be receiving this, dear reader, on day 9. Things change so fast that we must be very resilient along with many other virtues. We read about resilience in the teachings we publish from Kiwican. Time to practice what our school children have learnt! Maybe even from them.
I used to be a runner. When running a mile race of four laps, the third lap was always the hardest. The initial energy was gone, reserves were heavily drawn on, and the finishing tape was still more than a lap away.
Our level 4 time at home may feel the same. However, this morning I received from a friend in Italy an email wishing us well in New Zealand. He was entering his fifth week of lockdown and said with humour and hope that he and his wife had still not killed each other after four weeks!
So, there is hope and much to be learnt and practised in these weeks. Well, I learnt that the US had a longer life expectancy during the Great Depression than it did during the late Swinging
Twenties. Why? I believe it is what life is about: support from friends, neighbours, family, community. So long as we have enough to eat and drink, the real pleasures of life can be found in books, gardens, music, the arts, conversation, companionship.
I can’t go walking with my mate this month so we are going Skype walking; his idea. It entails walking for an hour or so at the same time but separately. Then we return home to Skype each other and enjoy conversation and a glass of beer together while on line.
My neighbour wants to hear me play guitar more on the patio. It seems the sound bounces off trees opposite to her place at a pleasant volume. Like the Italians singing on their balconies, we can perhaps play on our patios. We all have skills and ways of entertaining ourselves and others.
There are good things to be shared in a lockdown, The cellar can be sampled, the garden well tended, and I won’t be wasting my time watching sport on TV. Today I watched eight scaup, little diving ducks, on the river moving through the light and shade under the trees. Nothing on TV could match that.
So, fellow Grey Power members, we are all in this together. Let us practise resilience and compassionate kindness. We may all profit from this shared and levelling experience.
Stay home. Save lives.