How quickly we forget?
We cling on to hope and we all desperately want good news to help us get through the rest of 2020.
The problem is that many of us are so stuck in that mind-set that we are ignoring the recent reality that we are trying to escape from.
When Biden one many rejoiced that the end of the Trump presidency is near. This is a good thing, but I noticed that some were immediately saying things like ‘we are saved’, ‘everything is OK now’ and even more triumphant phrases suggesting that the problem of Trump is now gone.
While I would not want to diminish any of that because it is good news there is a huge amount of work to be done and the US is divided right down the middle. There are big problems to deal with and that will take time, and as tempting as it is to wipe the memory of Trump from history his damaging legacy will need work for the stain to be removed.
You should rejoice if you feel that way, of course you should, but take some time to think of what is required to truly get away from his legacy. Hard work remains to be done.
My wife has been sworn at while getting groceries from the local supermarket. She works for the NHS and has priority access to buy basics and as such NHS workers are taken to the front of the every growing queues.
The fact that she is seeing a big increase in sick patients due to the resurgence of Covid, the fact that she has to wear uncomfortable PPE for 12 hours a day and the fact that she is having to put herself at risk every day no longer matters to some people. To some, NHS people are privileged and these people who do nothing to help anyone else hate them.
We no longer clap once a week to thank the NHS, many of us still break all of the rules which makes the virus worse and within a few months too much of the population has simply forgotten. The situation for hospitals is the same as it was in March and in some cases worse. And we should not forget that they have never had a rest. NHS people work extremely hard all year round whether there is a virus or not and many are close to burn out already.
Is this a human thing? When the news is good we immediately forget the bad that came before and when the news is bad twice we react completely differently the second time. I don’t get it.
Note: I am trying not to get too upbeat about the latest vaccine news, but please let it happen!