‘Those of us lucky enough to still have breath in our bodies should fight for those losing theirs’
GRACE VAUGHAN says Covid-19 is waging a battle on our health and community spirit and people like her mother ‘a true nightingale and unsung hero in the art of care’ are being caught in the middle
As 'C' words go, COVID may prove to be the most divisive and contentious yet. As a disease, it has the potential to cause an all-out war - on both our health and our community spirit.
Having now manifested itself beyond the physical, the virus has permeated an already pressured psyche that has to make decisions, decisions that affect ourselves and bi-proxy others.
Pitting us against each other, yet with great distance - the virus has us in a firm choke-hold when it comes to choosing morality, duty and self-governance. The latter now gaining reckless momentum because of the past ills and over-spills of a suppressed time under both church and state.
And we decide now is the time to rebel, push back. Now is the perfect time to take our life into our own hands, self-diagnose and write our own misguided prescriptions on how to deal with this virus.
For most people, wearing a mask is the right course of action but the nay-wearers apparently seem to know better refusing to comply with a broad spectrum of reasons ranging from 'lack of evidence that masks are anyway effective,' 'government is trying to control us,' 'our children will end up traumatised.' Arguably justifiable. Arguably a cop-out. Because, hey we're all entitled to freedom of speech and can sing it from the rooftops if we have a mind to.
But right now, the world needs humility, for rabble-rousing musicians to go backstage and let the scientists take centre. Because right now, those at risk are highly dependent on those in the finest art of care - our doctors, our nurses and their families. The un-celebrated who don't have the luxury of a concierge or personal assistant braving a local supermarket in fetch of a loaf.
In the front line of the unmasked and indifferent. A section of youth so spoiled by their gorge on celeb culture they're averse to the empathy of others and to the responsibility of self. We live with opposing views, stomach it without having to swallow it - but we can't be indifferent. Especially not now when the old and vulnerable need us all to show the same heart and resolve.
Be forever ready for the carefree spring-step of un-masked teens in the local supermarket, acting like the world, far from losing direction - revolves solely around them. Expect and receive a backlash, when you ask, where's your mask? And the indifference. 'Don't know, don't care and mind your own business.' Which is exactly what you're doing, 'minding your own business' because under your white knuckles, is a phone and on the screensaver is a photo of a 76-year-old woman.
A woman on full-time oxygen for respiratory disease yet will suffer the discomfort of wearing a mask for the protection of others. A woman who despite her limitations in lighter spirits knitted her own Covid-inspired mask to kill anxiety and time during lock-down.
A woman who can't afford to spend another birthday without her grandchildren should there be a second lockdown. A woman who as a midwife helped bring life into the world and as a palliative nurse helped those pass on from it.
A woman who when in younger virulent times sacrificed midwifery training in St. Thomas', London, for The Royal, Belfast to nurse her own mother from the grips of the lesser-known, Hong Kong flu.
A woman, during The Troubles, served on the frontline - tending indiscriminately, soldiers of both sides in its bloodied hospital theatres. She wore a mask back then because it was mandatory and prevented the spread of infection - she wears a mask now because it is mandatory and prevents the spread of infection.
Those of us lucky enough to still have breath in our bodies should fight for those losing theirs.
Next time someone in a shop wearing a mask kindly asks that you wear one too, think beyond your own non-wearing agenda and imagine what theirs might be. To protect what's on the screensaver of their phone, that 76 yr-old retired nurse, and mother, in this case, mine - who at one time may have saved yours.