Although things carry on as pretty much what passes for normal with me, I find myself welling-up with abstract emotion about three or four times a day.
The first time was when I saw the first spaced-out queue outside the supermarket. I tried to analyse what brought it on. Was it a sadness for how we have been brought down by a virus? Was it admiration for altruistic others who are doing their best to help and dying as a result? Was it self-pity? Was it fear? Was it the frequent return to reality impinging on everyone's desire to escape? Fuck knows.
There will be recrimination and there will be celebration - all in good time. No rush, hopefully.
I have a friend who is on life-support at our hospital, struggling to breathe. I hear they sedate those patients and I also hear that they can stay in this state for about 2 weeks if they survive. Their chances are 50/50.
It is now 8.00 pm and the only train on the line in town has let off its whistle to thank the carers of this country. The people who - a month ago - had not been considered worth anything more than a minimum wage if that. The people who, in better times, were not deemed skilled or wealthy enough to warrant a visa if they came from even Europe, let alone elsewhere.
Who takes away your rubbish? Who serves you your food? Who sweeps your streets? Who picks your fruit? Who looks after you when you are dying in a strange place and will never see your loved ones again?
The people who are not worthy of a decent wage or a visa, some not worthy of even being called British at all. Attitudes will change when this is over, but for how long?
There really is a cloud of sadness all over the world and what you wrote is so true and could be written anywhere in the world these days.Here, too, as usual, foreign workers and employees are transparent and disappear from view, no one applauds them at eight in the evening.
ReplyDeleteWe clap them all.
ReplyDelete👏👏👏👏 .... all true Tom. Our daughter and her boyfriend both work for the NHS and know that nothing will change when this is all over. They, and all the other frontline workers deserve so much more but, as one friend who works for the NHS said, if they were paid a handsome sum, you wouldn’t get the people who care , working for the NHS ... it is a vocation and how grateful I am that they are there. Every Thursday we clap until our hands hurt ..... they deserve every accolade .... I cannot imagine what it must be like to be on the frontline. XXXX
ReplyDeleteI have felt like this for years Tom and finally it is being brought home to folk - things hopefully will never be the same after this has gone away.
ReplyDeleteI am full of admiration for all of the many people in this country who are putting themselves out there on the frontline without a thought for their own safety.
ReplyDeleteI am grateful to our postman, the bin men, the people filling the shelves at the supermarkets, and of course our wonderful nurses and doctors.
I am finding that emotions come in waves these days. I'm truly sorry to hear about your friend who is so ill. -Jenn
ReplyDeleteThis should be the beginning of great social change for the better. It won't be.
ReplyDeleteI am more hopeful than others. I believe that everyone will be changed by this virus, and for the better. There will be nobody who will untouched by this.
ReplyDeletePope John Paul said something along these lines in the 1970s
ReplyDeleteIf all the bishops and all the dustman went on strike who would you miss the most?
Let no man look down on the work of another!"
You are not alone in your feelings of sadness that come suddenly from nowhere. I get it several times a day, but can't put a finger on exactly why as my life at present is so much easier than many peoples'.
ReplyDeleteIt was ever thus, Tom. The people who manage and care for money get paid the most. Those who care for people are often ignored and paid a pittance.
ReplyDeletePerhaps this may change when we come through this. When the Black Death decimated this country in the 14th century the serf system of landworkers disappeared and this labour was at such a premium that agricultural workers became sought after and began to receive an actual wage.
Pay NHS admin chiefs less and employ less of them. Increase the front line workers and pay them more.
The worth of a person should never be determined by their occupation. When I was little, I worked out in my head that the world was covered in tiny squares, and that each person was entitled to one of equal size. If only.
ReplyDeleteI like the response of the Portuguese authorities.. Everyone...tourists, illegal immigrants, whoever...is being treated like a citizen of Portugal..no questions.
ReplyDeleteHopefully people will carry on appreciating those poorly paid and treated who hold our society together...
We'll chat tomorrow.
ReplyDeleteWell said Tom. Jan Bx
ReplyDelete