quarantine contemplation.
I’ve been thinking about community lately. I’m currently staying at my parents’ house and I’ve been seeing all these commercials on TV. You know the ones… how we’re ‘all in this together’ and ‘we’ve got this Canada’ and then they show a bunch of people looking tough and/or determined. And while those are nice sentiments, and there are a lot of people doing a lot of good right now, I have to wonder… why did it take a pandemic to help the people who need it?
Quarantine has been tough, I’ll be the first to tell you that. I miss my daily routines, hanging out with my friends, even going to the gym. I miss my “old” life. I know I’m very privileged when I say these things. All I’m being asked to do is stay inside. I’m still working, still able to keep a roof over my head and food on the table. I was able to go to a place where I feel loved and am surrounded by family to see this thing through. Some people aren’t so lucky. A lot of people were struggling before all of this started and have been hit really hard, just trying to survive.
Something great that I think has come out of this is people’s heightened sense of community. To stand up and take care of each other. Remember when everyone was ignoring one another on the street and acting like if something didn’t directly affect them, it wasn’t their problem? I’m not so naive as to think that’s not still happening, but it’s certainly happening less.
My biggest hope is that we come out of this wiser. More aware of what wasn’t working pre-quarantine and what we need to change. That we continue building up our communities and work together to support those in need long after this is all over.
That we be more mindful of our actions and impact on the world and not just on the environment, but on each other as well.
There’s quite a bit I don’t miss from my “old” life. I don’t miss the hustle and bustle and the hectic schedules. I don’t miss the pollution in the air and I certainly don’t miss getting on a crowded streetcar. But most importantly, I don’t miss the disconnection we had. From ourselves as a city, country and the world as a whole. In a lot of ways, I hope things are drastically different.
