As things start to open up (yet again) with redneck Alberta having one of the lower booster rates (10% lower than the national average), some musings:
The main thing people missed was in-person presence and free socializing. “Man is a social animal.”–Rousseau. Very true. People miss family, friends, workmates, and just generally being with other people, talking to strangers (many exchanges like that when you stop and thinks about it), people-watching, flirting, chatting, and conversing in social situations. These practices keep people sane and anchor them in society. No wonder there has been a dramatic increase in mental illness.
But you also have to look at the massive damage done to the Arts which depends on social interaction for such things as concerts, openings, festivals, and visitors to galleries and the like. People have missed the Arts regardless of how they have kept up through reading, listening, and viewing (via screens).
[Personally, the past two years have not been as truncating for me because I have long built up my own resources and have been regularly accessing the Arts in many platforms (watching movies on a big screen computer, listening to music and spoken word on a CD player going off to sleep, buying new CDs and DVDs to pursue the many aspects of history, culture, the Arts, famous/great people, reading literature more than usual (revisiting great books), and, above all tracking and exploring topics of interest (usually online first).
Each day, for me, has been more of a continuing voyage through civilization, culture, and the Arts. I have assumed responsibility for my head, heart, soul, and spirit to ensure my total well-being during the limiting isolation of the plague. As usual, all things come down to how you look after yourself, and assume responsibility for your own life first and foremost.]
A word now about health, charity, and humanitarianism.
It’s a long way from Roman toilets in the streets, the Victorian Parliament having to stop meetings because of the stench of the nearby polluted Thames, soldiers having their limbs sawed off in the American Civil War and WW I, and children dying of diabetes untreated in hospitals in the early 20th century. Science–notably medical science– and technology have come a long way to improving our quality of life, health-wise, though we still need actual human doctors to read, understand, and translate data for best practice treatments.
What has saved us for the most part the past two years have been doctors and nurses, testing, rapidly-developed readily-available vaccines and other new tools to deal with Covid, and hospitals where facilities are insufficient along with medical health personnel and resources such as ambulance medics and vehicles. More needs to be done still, especially in more staffing and better benefits.
Skin-of-the-teeth stuff the past two years. But health care remains core and basic to any nation, culture, or civilization. Otherwise, people can die off randomly and willy-nilly in droves.
Humanitarianism and charity, as we understand it, started in Victorian England, the first Western country appalled by slavery and child chimney sweepers. Philanthropism, which became more prominent in the 20th century (thanks to rich tycoons like Andrew Carnegie who gave libraries all across North America to make reading and books freely available to hundreds of cities and significant individuals like cancer fund-raiser Terry Fox), has continued to grow into the 21st century with the contributions of well-known figures such as Bill Gates.
But nations and populaces have also very generously contributed out of pocket when and where needed. There are also innumerable charity lottos that have raised billions to help those in need. Very impressive overall, and that spirit has not been dampened this far into a withering pandemic. People are contributing more than ever to Ukraine and new initiatives pop up every day. With countries close to Ukraine assisting in many ways, one can see that the state of humanitarianism and charity is thriving more than ever. We are, indeed, still a global village and respond when the bell tolls for others.
‘Tis spring and new hope springs eternal about the spirit and overall condition of ‘man’. I think you will see even more improvements if the infection rates slow down, and when people return to being more out in society, connected with others. The return of the Arts to playing larger roles and being accessed by more people will do much for mind, heart, soul, and spiritual health. The current charity scene will keep the spirit of giving and helping others faculty alive in the future, too. And, no doubt, there are major fixes still to come on the hospital and health-care personnel fronts.
Despite the bloody, unnecessary war in Ukraine, I remain much buoyed by what I see, generally, in the West (Europe and North America). Sanity, fairness, and benevolence still largely rule regardless of whatever internal personal concerns or anxieties. Methinks, there are enough decent, kind, hard-working, higher-principled people to keep this used-up world afloat for now and some time into the future.