We live in a time of monumental uncertainty. And yet as I sit here, the cherry blossom in my garden is opening on the highest branches. The wisteria buds fatten. The sun breaks through the clouds. I remember staying on a friend’s farm in Yorkshire during the foot and mouth crisis, watching the lambs leap past the kitchen window. As we sipped coffee and looked out at the perfect spring scene, she said, “The worst part is you don’t know when it is coming, or where it is, it is just there, in the air”. And yet – then as now – we all keep buggering on, as Churchill said. The Blitz spirit, was largely possible because people could get together to cheer each other up. In 1942, Jan Struther’s wartime creation, Mrs Miniver, wrote, “Things happen too quickly, crisis follows crisis, the soil of our minds is perpetually disturbed. Each of us, to relieve his feelings, broadcasts his own running commentary on the preposterous and bewildering events of the hour: and this, nowadays, is what passes for conversation.” It is impossible for us to live in a state of emotional uncertainty for as long as it will take for us to come through this pandemic, for it to be all of what passes now for our conversation. But the worst of times can also bring out the best in people; this is the moment when we show who we truly are. While the online world can be a cesspit certainly, it also gives us opportunities for kindness. In the past few febrile days, you don’t need to look very far to find strangers comforting strangers. Yesterday on Twitter, there was a wise and calming thread from an advanced nurse practitioner, @bluelortscher. She said: “Every sensible decision you make is an act of love for your loved ones, for the most vulnerable, and for your community’.
from Yahoo Style UK https://ift.tt/2WqtOL1
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