Do you personally, feel there were lessons learned? If so, what? How will that guide your actions going forward?
- Lessons learned: “I actually did more reading about the Spanish Influenza and other world crises to keep this pandemic in perspective. History repeats itself. Have we been paying attention?”
- Actions going forward: “All I know is that I am called to be responsible for my neighbour’s wellbeing, just as much as I am responsible for my own. Nothing deep here …”
- “This experience exposed huge problems in long term care for those requiring assistive living, including the very elderly, the people can thank for our lives and freedoms. We owe it to them to fix the situation.” Also, for most of us (the boomer bulge) who might be living in such facilities in the future.”
- “No man is an island.” “We need each other.” “Appreciating how important “family” is.”
- “I can do with a lot less in life, if need be, and still be as happy.”
- “Appreciate the “so-called” small things.” “You don’t know what you’ve got ‘till it’s gone.”
- “It makes you appreciate what is really important to you. A bit slower pace has been good too. God has been faithful and will be in the future too. I knew that already; but, know it a bit better now.”
- “For book club, we read “The Wake: The Deadly Legacy of a Newfoundland Tsunami” by Linden MacIntyre, and discovered that the pandemic was nothing compared to life in that area of Newfoundland.”
- “I think one lesson learned is don’t take things for granted. Our normal can get turned upside down in the blink of an eye and we have very little control over it. I also think this is a good time to reflect on how blessed we all are compared to so many places in the world. Be thankful for our blessings and praise God for His abundant grace in watching over us. Another eye opener was how often we should be washing our hands, not shaking hands or blowing out candles, and physically distancing. I think these are things that will change how we interact in the future.”
- “We need to be flexible to adapt as needed.”
- “Learn to be more self-sufficient.”
- “I have taken many things for granted over the years – going where I wanted to go, when I wanted to go, who to visit and how long to visit. This past year reminded me of James 4: 13-14 Boasting About Tomorrow
Now listen, you who say, “Today or tomorrow we will go to this or that city, spend a year there, carry on business and make money. Why you do not even know what will happen tomorrow. What is your life? You are a mist that appears for a little while and then vanishes.” NIV - “I often thought this time is a practice run for the time we are even older and cannot do too much anymore. Like we know from the elderly people in our congregation. Slowing down our lives has not been all bad, especially for our adult children…more free time has allowed for more “family time.”
- “Whether you are rich or poor, no one is unaffected by the pandemic.” **
- “More awareness of racism (BLM); certainly, in the USA, but also right here in our local communities in Ontario, Canada.”
- “There is a delicate balance between freedom, rights, responsibility and duty.”
- “The world is small. What happens in one country affects us all…a virus, politics, war, etc.”
- “That a pandemic is not a short instance, and it will still have a long tail – a year for sure and more likely two.”
- “Whether we like to admit it or not, we rely on each other for our good health. If some people choose not to wear masks, wash their hands, practice social distancing or take the vaccine, they are in effect saying their rights supersede everyone else’s. Unless everyone gets “with it”, this isn’t going to go away.
- “We have also not learned that it is not enough to “flatten the curve.” We have to crush the virus if we are going to be done with it. We have set ourselves up for the virus to be moving among us for years to come and scrambling to put down dozens of spikes a year in work environments and large gathering environments.”
- “Probably the biggest lesson is: if you do not act early and decisively and long enough on this type of contagion, you get variants – I’m not sure we have really “learned” this lesson.”
In quick strokes:
- ** True; however, the past year has certainly shown us that we are not all affected equally by the pandemic. BIPOC, recent immigrants, under-educated people, under-employed people and other disadvantaged people are much more negatively impacted by all the various effects of the pandemic. Many of those people will never regain what they have lost; while, on the other hand, many other individuals and corporations have increased savings and profit.
- One would have to have had their head in the sand for the entire past year to not have come to a realization that great inequities exist, especially for BIPOC. Years of systemic racism have created a totally “unequal society” where those who are ranked “lower” or are considered “other” are discriminated against and suffer greatly.
- We wouldn’t presume to know how to “fix” this; but, one step could be to educate ourselves on the history and events that have led us to where we are now. Our attitude could be more of “acceptance” instead of “tolerance” and certainly when seeing injustice, our action should be to actively “stand up against” it rather than passively “observing”.
- Even just by way of living in Guelph, Ontario, Canada, we are privileged; because, where in the world a person lives often determines whether they do/don’t have access to good drinking water, enough food, health care, education, social assistance, choice of career, VACCINES, etc.; plus, freedoms for so many things… to practice their religious beliefs, to have a say politically, to have children, etc. Many around the world also suffer because of climate change.
For your listening pleasure:
Today I’m Gonna Try and Change the World Johnny Reid
Man in the Mirror Michael Jackson