With each passing day, after months of COVID rules, being told what to do and how to do it, we’re exhausted by all of it. So agitated are some that they ‘act out’ online with outlandish views about the virus. I often wonder if some of the verbose virus deniers are doing it deliberately to see how far they can go with their envelope pushing before they’re kicked off whatever social platform they’re using.
On the other side are those men and women who are functioning in ways that are dangerous, with some taking their vile rhetoric to such extremes that their behaviour has become threatening. Policing authorities are stepping up presence at know targets as COVID deniers threatening hospital workers in on the rise — truly scary. Scarier still is that they’re showing up at hospitals and endangering those who are seeking care and comfort. That must not be tolerated and people need to speak up when they see it. To say nothing is to go along with the behaviour.
We want health care workers to be kept safe and to feel safe so that they can do what they’re trained to do as they protect and serve their communities. It defies logic that there is so much rage when compassion and empathy should be at the forefront of our interactions, both at home, in our circle, our bubble, and also when we’re out and about conducting the business of our daily lives.
Domestic violence is on the rise, child abuse is on the rise and animal abuse cases are increasing. Pet surrender has increased as owners, especially the elderly, are finding they can no longer afford to care for their companions. COVID isolation has triggered behaviours in so many people who are taxed beyond their emotional endurance, driving them to behave in ways that they wouldn’t have previously considered. Are their minds so disturbed that they will, day after day, spew venom at total strangers, both on and offline? They have to know that what they are doing is potentially criminal in nature. Why can’t that reality be enough to stop them? To me, their own fear is palpable and they’d benefit from seeking help.
Here in Canada, the influence of American television programing and press is pervasive, with many Americans being perceived as arrogant and unbending with no regard for the down trodden. How can that be in times such as these when everyone is in the same proverbial boat? COVID has become the great equalizer; it doesn’t discriminate. Why then, are we so intent on being negative, oppositional, obstructionist. When we don’t act for the public good, we ultimately diminish ourselves. Few people give thought to that byproduct of negative behaviour.
Being a bit selfish for moment — for quite some time, I’ve been the beneficiary of weekly physiotherapy sessions through the New Brunswick Extra-Mural program. I registered with them when my husband died in 2007 and their presence, even on a sporadic basis kept me connected to the world beyond my four walls as they could report my progress to those on my care team who monitor my health and wellness. Though I’ve had only one situation that included one of their nurses, my ongoing need is related to aging with cerebral palsy and maintenance of mobility given I am home alone, without benefit of any other human being at Chez Rockwell. So far, COVID has not interrupted visits. During recent calls, my physiotherapist has worn a gown and shoe covers along with the usual gloves and mask. He and his colleagues are essential workers and the services they provide go well beyond just improving mobility or changing dressings of those house-bound persons who are recovering from any number of health situations that impact wellness. They have opportunity to do fuller assessment via well chosen lifestyle questions given senior isolation is a huge concern across the health care community.
Those who continue to be mask-defiant, dismissive of the rules or combative when someone is trying to enforce the rules of COVID are being selfish. Whether they realize it or not, their behaviour sends a message to all - that they don’t care about anyone beyond themselves — even their elderly grandmother who relies in visiting nurses to monitor cardiac function, or their uncle who needs wound care or the young nephew new to a disability that is permanent. Such thoughtlessness keeps all of us locked in the COVID spin cycle while those essentially having an attention-seeking temper tantrum are heard. To them, I say - “grow up!”. To defeat COVID, communities must care more. About everyone!
Carla MacInnis Rockwell is a freelance writer and disability rights advocate living outside Fredericton, NB with Miss Lexie, a rambunctious Maltese and Mr. Malcolm, the boisterous Havanese. She can be reached via email at Carla MacInnis Rockwell
"Why then, are we so intent on being negative, oppositional, obstructionist. When we don’t act for the public good, we ultimately diminish ourselves." Why indeed? It boggles the mind how self centered certain segments of society have become and how readily they jump on a contrary bandwagon without thinking issues through. In so many aspects of life in 2021, critical thinking skills seem to be in short supply.
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