Never waste a crisis
You should never waste a crisis, it’s said.
The current measures to stem the spread of Covid-19 and to save lives has to have some upsides.
There are great environmental benefits and our society is seeing that working remotely can really work in some jobs. If that allows people to drive less, waste less time commuting, see their families more while being beneficial for the environment, that can only be a good thing.
This crisis may offer us the chance to change aspects of how we live - for the better. Hopefully we take that opportunity.
Some of us are now seeing more of our families than we usually do. There’s been loads of WhatsApp calls and that’s great, even if grandparents can’t see kids in person at the moment. People are being very creative, as can be seen by all the videos on social media of activities that people are getting up to. Some people are learning new skills and taking up new hobbies.
It’s been a great time to do those jobs that you’ve put off for months, be it paperwork, DIY work or any other things that we could more easily push aside when we had busier lives.
Mind you, plenty of people are extremely busy right now, from healthcare workers to supermarket workers and all sorts of other people who are involved in what are now deemed to be “essential services”. That includes journalists by the way!
Many others are busy trying to mind kids and home school them, and others are doing jobs like getting food and medicines for people who cannot at the moment.
Two weeks of self-isolation is not great fun, but it’s not so bad either and the recent weather has made it much more bearable. I was still pretty pleased to be able to walk outside on Tuesday, after spending two weeks stuck inside.
More major events in the Cork calendar are getting cancelled. On Tuesday Cork Opera House announced it is to regrettably postpone this summer's musical, ‘Chitty Chitty Bang Bang’. “Huge disappointment, but the right thing to do for now, and we promise we'll be back!” a spokesperson said.
The Cork Midsummer Festival announced the cancellation of the 2020 edition of the festival on Tuesday too. “We have reluctantly accepted that it is not possible for us to continue with plans for the festival without potential risk to the health and safety of our artists, teams and audiences.
“The festival as we planned it may not be happening but we will be working with our artists over the coming weeks and months to try to bring some of their brilliant work to you in other ways,” said Lorraine Maye, on behalf of the Board and team of Cork Midsummer Festival. It’s a real shame.
It’s been humbling to see the response of many people to the crisis. Our stories on page 1 and 2 highlight just a few of the great examples. It’s said that we truly see what people are like in a crisis. Well done Cork!