I guess one of the positives to be taken away from this global event is the opportunity is that we have all had a little more time to think.
It has been a devastating and traumatic period for those who have lost loved ones under the most surreal of circumstances and many of us have struggled profoundly with the unprecedented conditions that we have been forced to adapt to. It has been a very difficult time.
It has been a time of fear and uncertainty, for loss and adjustment, a time for reflection and re-evaluation. Indeed we have been presented with an opportunity to take a really good look at ourselves.
There are positives and lessons that can be drawn from this shared experience, which I believe is always the case, and most of us have learned so much about ourselves as individuals and a global society during this dark epoch.
We have found that we are as a species supremely resilient, that we all have a primal instinct for survival, and that given the right motivations, we can come together and make great things happen. We can adapt. We can learn new skills and ways of dealing with the issues that affect us all. We can recognize the heroes amongst us, as quiet and unassuming as they are. We must realize that if we give ourselves enough time to breathe, to think and to synchronize, that we too can be heroes in our own reality.
But the thing we must not do, the thing that we so often do… is forget.
This crisis will pass. Brighter days await. But we must learn the lessons we have been taught, and never forget them.
The new normal
We have all found our own ways to cope and adapt to the menace imposed on us by this virus. It has been more difficult for some that for others. Whether it has been having to battle the virus on the front line as an NHS stalwart, or having to fight the disease as an individual where it is literally your life at stake or if you are having to cope without loved ones, it has been a very challenging time.
But for some, ironically this experience has been surprisingly liberating, even invigorating. We have all had an opportunity to take a good look at ourselves. We have been given time to reassess, to discover or rediscover, to appreciate that which we took for granted, we have been given the time to think and to grow. To become better individuals
With the restrictions of our perceived freedoms, with the enforced changes in all of our learnt behaviours, we have been allowed a time to fix what we can, adjust, learn and heal. The planet itself, our planet earth which we abuse and take for granted has had a moment to heal, to clarify and to regenerate. The reports of clearing waterways and rivers is welcome, the fall in rates of pollution across the globe are encouraging.
In just a few months, while we stayed in our homes, this clever planet of ours, got on with repairing itself and undoing many decades if not centuries of unabated abuse. So whilst the losses have been great, both in terms of cherished lives and in the disruption and suffering of many, economies are damaged and the recovery may be tiresome, let us not forget the intrinsic lessons which have been presented to us.
Just as we should have taken this time to lean to truly love ourselves and to appreciate each other, we need to have learned to love and appreciate this planet which sustains us as benevolently as a giving mother.
And with that, I propose to you, and to the leaders of the world, that once a year, for at least two weeks, we as global citizens which were brought together under the dark cloud of this pandemic threat, should stop and remember. Let us have a world planet fortnight where we voluntarily lockdown all non-essential industry, pause all non-essential travel and restrain capitalism for a moment in time.
Let us remember the victims and the grieving. Let us celebrate our heroes and think of the vulnerable. We should take time to breathe, to appreciate, to heal. Not just ourselves as individuals, but each other. But most of all let us celebrate and show gratitude to the planet on which we all rely.
Let us give the earth a chance to heal.
[GUS]