Coronavirus: Who do we need?

The topic of conversation at the moment is the Coronavirus, it’s always the virus. Day in day out, that’s all we hear on the news until they start talking about the stock markets and turn to the weather. It’s relentless. Kind of like the key workers and health care workers that are taking care of those patients that are either infected and/or critically ill. When I saw the photo of health care workers with bruised faces because of the protective clothing that they are having to wear as we battle through this pandemic; I was astounded, humbled and grateful for their resilience and unrelenting drive to see this through to the end – whether they have no choice at all.

Yesterday, I stood outside my door along with many others that live in my village and I clapped for our carers. It was a small gesture but a way for us as a community of people who need our care workers so desperately right to say ‘thank you’ and show our gratitude to them. I didn’t think anyone would go outside and clap and I was so happy when I saw all those people celebrating those people who we need more than anything right now.

I was then on Instagram and I came across a post:

Something hit me when I read this. We live in a society that is so used to a throw-away culture; I worry that when this is all over, will people even remember who was on the front line or will we go back to idolising celebrities and wasting our time watching mundane drivel like Love Island OR will we have learned from this pandemic, slowed down our lives and taken stock of what is important.

What can a celebrity really do for us right now? They can encourage us to stay at home but really what do they have to offer us right now? I’m a big Gal Gadot fan but I could see the point of the ‘celebrity’ rendition of ‘Imagine’ – I could see the point of the music teacher in Italy serenading from his balcony and I could see the point of the fitness instructor trying to motivate quarantined apartment residents and get them to do some exercise… these are ‘real’ people, supporting and motivating eachother. As harsh and horrible as this may sound, celebrities such as Gal Gadot, Jessica Alba and so forth have million dollar homes with home gyms and pools to help them weather this horrific time. What do the rest of us have? We have eachother – our community.

I was devastated when I saw this clip though of an UK National Health Service worker pleading with people to stop hoarding food and panic buying. It broke my heart.

It’s the real people – the ones who impact our daily life, the ones who take care of us and the ones that help to keep our society moving forward.. they are the ones that we should idolise. My future mother in law is a nurse, she’s an amazing woman and I am scared everyday that something might happen to her but I am grateful to her – I am grateful knowing that she is there to take care of people like me.

I just think it’s crucial for us to learn and think about who we are prioritising as role models in our life. One thing this pandemic has shown me is that there is a huge sense of community amongst us – we do believe that we are all in this together so we are here supporting one another, let’s not forget that. Let’s not forget that right now 750,000 people have signed up to help support the NHS and help the most vulnerable. It’s things like this that make me feel proud to be British.

Let’s remember what it means to be a community when this is all over.