The One with the global Pandemic

 

As we prepare to wave goodbye(for if there's one thing 2020 has been good for, it's waving) to this batshit crazy year, I thought it fitting to reflect on this topsy-turvy period of time.  Weirdly enough, it hasn't personally been too bad as a whole.

January started as a pretty dark time for me personally(for reasons I won't go into)  and February shocked everyone when Caroline Flack took her own life.  Nobody knows what happened between her and her boyfriend but them, so I won't attempt to speculate, but it certainly opened the conversation on trolling and how far the media will go with demonising someone, which in Caroline's case led to tragedy.  After this, the #bekind movement grew momentum and proved how out of the darkest corner, light can emerge.

In March as my birthday approached, whisperings of a national lockdown due to Coronavirus began, I have to say I never imagined we would be contemplating a further lockdown(how many is it now) at the end of the year.  What followed was a period unlike any many of us had seen in our lifetimes.  Schools closed, families unable to meet for Mothers Day, video conferencing sites like Skype and Zoom becoming a lifeline for those who were unable to meet face to face.

If I'm honest, the rest of the  year is hard to track as one month seemed to blend into another, the nation was encouraged to take to their sofas and we learnt new phrases like social distancing and R-rate.  I have to say the UK government doesn't seem to know what they're doing.  Our case and death rate is one of the worst.  How is this possible when we have access to healthcare many countries do not?  I don't think I'm alone in being bewildered by it all.

Some good news emerged when Joe Biden succeeded Donald Trump in the US Election.  Trump definitely didn't give up without a fight though.  Time will tell what kind of president he is, but you would hope he couldn't be worse.

As we pass a festive period where many were on their own or separated from many of their loved ones, I find myself reflecting on not only the year which is almost over, but the nature of life and humanity.

Yesterday I went to the cemetery to visit my Grandpa's grave, he died in January 2019 in his 90s, an amazing innings and an incredible man.  He escaped from Poland in the Second World War and never forgot some of the things he saw.

Just inches from his grave, my attention was seized by a child's grave.  I realised in that part of the cemetery was a Garden of Rest for children who had died, some born stillborn.  Although it was sad to see my Grandpa's grave, he had a good life.  I can't even imagine what it must be like for a family to lose a child.  I don't have children, but if I were ever lucky enough to, the pain of losing them must be unimaginable.  I can't think of the words.

A media story this year, related to this, and which captured my attention, was model Chrissy Teigen losing her baby at four months pregnant.  I follow Teigen on her Instagram and Twitter pages, partly for a glimpse of her husband John Legend, an incredible musician and beautiful man, but also because like many I enjoy glimpses into her family life, seeing her cooking and playing with her two children.  Chrissy Teigen chose to share her photos of the aftermath of losing her baby boy, they show a woman ripped apart by grief, as she put it simply and powerfully "in pain."  Teigen was criticised by some parts of the media for sharing such intimate photographs.  Personally I find it hard to believe how people can ever consider slating someone for how they choose to share their pain.  In making her baby loss public, Teigen opened a conversation on a topic which is still seen as taboo.  Many women came forward to share their stories.

It also prompted the conversation, how much is too much sharing?  If you share the joys of your life, why shouldn't you share the tragedies too?  If Shakespeare had just written comedies and not tragedies the literary world would have been a less richer place.  We are too obsessed with sharing pictures of our seemingly perfect lives, but afraid to share a picture with #nofilter.

In a year in which the death toll of Coronavirus has kept climbing, in which people have been unable to hug their families for longer than we imagined, we have rediscovered the good of humanity, people delivering shopping to their neighbours, NHS heroes, scientists working around the clock on a vaccine to prevent more deaths, clapping for our carers, Captain Tom, people have embodied #bekind. 

If we can get through two World Wars, we can get through this.  Remember what was left in Pandora's box?  Hope.