By William Graham
This 21st century COVID-19 pandemic has lessons for us all and is perhaps an epiphany of having sometimes taken things for granted in our lifetime.
When all is said and done and whenever the epidemic has run its course we will never take for granted a hug with a friend or a stranger, a handshake instead of touching elbows, an embrace of loved ones, or even a good night out eating and raising a glass with close friends.
The images will stay with us of grandchildren waving at grandparents outside their windows.
The images of those ill in hospital wards unable to hold hands with those they are close to.
The images of the exhausted faces of the frontline nurses and doctors.
We have in this year 2020 experienced the strangeness of social distancing and wearing masks and not singing out and not putting arms around each other. We nod to each other on the street and say “stay safe.”
I have been fortunate in not having any relatives or close friends who have caught the virus and died. But I have friends of friends who have passed on.
The impact has been traumatic in not being able to attend funerals of friends who have passed.
We have not been able to attend baptisms, weddings and funerals in normal time numbers.
What a strange world we find ourselves in.
The crisis has also underscored a growing problem in society – that of loneliness which has impacted young and old in lockdown.
Lockdown has however brought some different perspectives in that people have had more time to rest, read and play.
More time has been spent in our local places experiencing the beauty of nature and nearby landscape.
Where I live, in Rostrevor, in the county Down, we have marvelled and smiled at the unusual sight of Finn the dolphin swimming and jumping in a cleaner Carlingford Lough.
We are starting to think more about our environment than ever before.
I have been particularly struck by the kindness of the people in helping each other in this small corner of the globe. The words `we are our sisters and brothers keepers’ comes to mind in showing empathy and compassion.
We inhabit a place which in its history has experienced the darkness of many TROUBLES. These are new troubles which know no boundaries, no borders.
Yet even in the darkness …. the light can be found. We breathe and dream of a brighter tomorrow.