Royce Shook

3 years ago · 1 min. reading time · ~10 ·

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Be Kinder

Be Kinder

As individuals, we struggle every day to cope with the restrictions that we accepted to fight the Pandemic. However, as a society, we haven’t yet come close to reckoning with the impact this new (sur)reality has had on our collective mental health, and the long-term effects on friendships and familial relationships. Some days a trip to the grocery store can bring up a generalized feeling of anxiety. The obvious discomfort I feel when I see people not physically distancing on a TV show. Spring break is coming up in our area, and I have the fear or perhaps the knowledge that the numbers of people infected daily may look very different again after these holidays when infection rates spike because people chose to ignore the rules.

I am not sure about you, but the constant need to try and anticipate the unpredictable becomes wearing. It also seems to me that there is so much anger at what we cannot control which shows up by the ease with which exchanges on social media or in general can ramp up into something much more volatile.

Layered on top of the systemic inequity that existed long before the pandemic, the intensifying public mental health crisis needs. In BC we have another health crisis with overdose deaths, caused by many reasons. This is another layer on top of the systemic inequity that existed long before the pandemic, As a society we need to recognize that public mental health crisis needs to be acknowledged, addressed, and put high on the priority list, not just prioritized. Rather than focusing exclusively on “building back better,” we need to talk, now, about the overwhelming need to build back kinder and more compassionate. This is a vital part of healthy healing for families, workplaces, and communities. There is no time to waste.

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Comments

Harvey Lloyd

3 years ago #3

Our heart wonders through our experiences and builds up thoughts. This is a natural process. Fellowship with others is where we take each others thoughts for a walk and see if they stand up to scrutiny. The unintended consequences of shutdowns, we were cut off from fellowship. The initial feedback was positive as the population was asked to "flatten the curve" timeframes were from two weeks to a month. But something strange and unexpected happened. Post time frame a very agitated group seeking the rights shared in the documents of government began to raise their voice. The strange part was the government's stance of position. It seem to have lost sight of flattening the curve. The ad campaigns pitted neighbor against neighbor as the anxiety rose in the populations experiencing the lock downs. Each person seeing from their own viewpoint of loss. Whether rights and freedoms, safety or financial collapse. When we did or do fellowship it is around these loses. Its time that we began our fellowship with neighborly things and not the media driven narrative, from either side.

Greg Rolfe

3 years ago #2

#2
David while you are completely correct, it seems that being rude is becoming a standard on many social media sights but thankfully I have noticed a greater or an increased practice in being nice in personal interactions. Our local police agree with Royce in the area of increased social stress and its impact on society.

Pascal Derrien

3 years ago #1

All we need to be is in the title of the post :-)

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