Imaging a World Full of Good Intentions....
During the early days of the pandemic when we began to stand on our doorsteps and clap for our NHS workers it seemed that everyone the length and breadth of the country really meant it. We were united in our gratitude, fear & vulnerability. I remember finding it both emotional and quite honestly uncomfortable.
The staff in our hospitals & care services where literally putting their lives on the line, standing face to face with something no one had ever seen and had no idea to how fix. It was beyond humbling.
I did it at first. I cried every time. I already owed my survival to the NHS. To their hard work, knowledge, and kindness. To their perseverance and commitment to find a solution to my burst brain when it appeared initially that its consequence was fatal.
In April I stood at my door, the door that now only welcomed fear, and I wept.
I wept for my own insecurity, for my loved ones and elderly neighbours, for the world and especially for the people who were turning up at the coal face every day while the rest of us stayed in pyjamas and watched Netflex.
Eventually I stopped. I began to see it as an empty gesture. The election and tory landslide of December 2019 was still in my mind. How NHS staff would be treated in real terms on the other side of all of this seemed painfully obvious to me. My tears of sorrow where turning to tears of anger so it was time to step back inside my cocoon.
This week I started off proud. The Scottish Government was rewarding all front facing hospital and care staff with a Christmas bonus. A gift unknown to these workers and so very deserved.
But, then I listened to some radio phone ins. I watched the news and scrolled on twitter and just like I’d felt when I had retreated from my doorstep all those months ago, my pride turned to anger.
The divisive spin on the people who had pulled our country through this awful year had begun. The publics hand clapping gratitude had turned to bitter words and angry finger taps. The hypocrisy was mind blowing and heart breaking in equal measure.
It made me reflect on the hypocrisy we so often see in our own lives and it reminded me to be guided by something other than perceived injustices, anger, and jealousy.
Of course, we can all be hypocritical sometimes. It part of the human experience. But this felt different. Again, I wept.
What view you take on this latest turn in events is a matter for you but what I do urge you to consider is how you live authentically both in the world and for the world. I passionately believe it is how we will all emerge from this pandemic stronger, better, and more compassionate.
Say what you mean and mean what you say. If we want the future to be better than the present, we are all called upon to deliver that reality. To be intentional with our words and our actions.
Something happens on the other side of every word you say, every action you take. Perhaps the way forward is in recognising what the consequences or our words and actions are.
I’m sure if our medical and care staff were asked to reflect what they thought would happen on the other side of the hand clapping they probably didn’t expect this. Realistically – most probably expected illness or death when they chose to get out of bed, leave their families behind and walk into the symbolically burning buildings. But they did it.
It’s what they signed up for. And they did what they said they would do.
This week I urge us all to consider what the consequences of our next action will be. Why we’re making our next decision. Or if we really mean the next thing we say.
Imagine – a world full of words, actions & decisions that come with good intentions. It would be like nothing we’ve ever experienced.
