Amidst all the fear, skepticism, and the unknown that makes most of our heart’s beat a little faster - whether or not we agree with measures taken surrounding the Coronavirus, it is important that we remember that we are all in this together.
We, like many upon first hearing about the Coronavirus news, thought: "Let’s not over react, we’ll be fine.” This slowly turned into, “let's just make sure we wash our hands and not cough on one another and this will pass.” But as we learned more about the affected people and areas and who is ultimately at risk, our own fears continued to rise, and we realized that it isn't us or even our children that are the most vulnerable, rather it is our entire, beautiful, local and international community that we all should be worried about. It's not just our own families that are at risk, it's everybody's families. Heck, this virus didn’t even spare our Prime Minister’s family. It’s easy to think, "we're ok. What's all the madness about?" as we continue to plan vacations, events out, and visits with friends.
This Coronavirus, like many unforeseen events in this life, is disruptive. It disrupts birthday parties that we've planned for weeks. It disrupts travel that we have organized for over a year. It can leave us feeling sad and frustrated. It disrupts our education system and cancels classes for weeks on end. It leaves our small, local businesses wondering if this will be the end for them. It leaves our hospitals overflowing with patients that have flu-like symptoms while patients with more extreme conditions cannot be tended to for the shortage of hospital beds and overworked doctors and nurses.
So what can we do? We could stop and focus on all of these negative attributes that are affecting our lives. We could be mad. We could be critical of our politicians, of what they are or are not doing. We could stockpile Lysol wipes and then sell them to make a profit of over $100,000, like a BC couple has chosen to do.
OR we can choose to breathe (in the open air is best). We can understand that we are all in this together. We can remember what matters most: Family, friends, compassion. We can choose kindness.
We CAN choose to help our elderly neighbours by running errands for them - like getting groceries in crowded and often hostile grocery stores with limited supplies. We can check in with our friends, our family, those that may not have many people in their lives, to see if they need a hand. We can share our toilet paper and not sell it. We can continue to order from local businesses so they don't suffer too much financially. We can choose to not fly if it is not essential.
How we handle our behaviours during this coronavirus outbreak depends on you. When we look back on the economic and social havoc that this virus will have wreaked on our communities (both local and abroad), I hope that along with the craziness that went with it, examples of love and kindness and people helping their neighbours will shine through and outweigh the chaos and fear.
NO one will ever regret choosing kindness, compassion and love when looking back. BUT, they might regret selling that overpriced roll of toilet paper on Amazon...
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