Be careful what you wish for
Business demanded everything be open. Everything opened. Now staff are falling like flies and businesses cannot stay open. Because…funny thing, a business cannot operate without staff.
When life is precarious, when we need to keep working, keep the doors open, keep trading, to make it through the next few days, our focus becomes singular. Singular focus squeezes out everything else. If there was selfishness seeding it becomes amplified then rampant.
Everything gets forgotten except what works for ‘me.’ We forget vulnerable people, long term consequences, mental health.
Governments, trapped in their knee jerk response to keep their donors happy, acquiesce to the gods of money.
And we get what we have.
Those who stood on the mountains of righteous indignation about heavy handed governments are strangely silent as businesses cannot open because of staff shortages.
I wonder at the heartless cruelty of it. I think of those going through chemo, children with lung conditions, the homeless.
Like climate, we require a collective effort and response. But the God of individualism rules. Plus our leadership would have trouble organising a picnic yet alone a coordinated response to a massive public health crisis.
Strange thing that when we are dealing with the unknown, nobody knows.
We can only be cautious and really well prepared while we think of the well-being of as many people as possible.
Photo taken January 1st 2015
