Let’s do this well!

Of all the terms for isolating, the best one is surely that used by Leo Vradkar, the Irish Prime Minister who called for us to ‘cocoon”. That sounds so much more positive and even cosy! Imagine what happens in the cocoon of a butterfly. Safely wrapped in a covering of silky threads, the larvae grows until its ready to emerge as a fully developed butterfly and to show off its wings.

In an ideal world, that’s what we might experience over the next few months if we have a warm comfortable home and plenty of things to keep us occupied. Then we will emerge when this is all over and show off our new skills, speaking Italian, crochet work, oil paintings or whatever kept your mind exercised while in the cocoon.

But not everyone has a cosy cocoon and some people may feel very confined and trapped. Not every one has a garden, but we all have windows. Maybe we should do what those people in Italy do in their apartment blocks. We open our windows and let in fresh air and even open our lungs and have a good old singsong.

I remember days long ago when women would natter with each other from open windows and when there was no one to talk too, there would always be somebody leaning out of a window and just watching the world go by. Then over the years with old tenements and back to back houses long gone, we all became very private.

Looking out at what your neighbours are doing could be seen as anti-social rather than social these days and you might be thought of as a nosey parker or just plain weird! But even the Government now are urging us to take more interest in our neighbours and it’s very heart-warming to see the Facegroup groups set up to help those most in need in our communities and the offers of help and support especially to older people.

Of course, there are thoughtless people, stockpiling things they really don’t need and totally ignoring Government advice on social activities, but I’m convinced there are more people being selfless than there are peolple being selfish. It will be interesting to see what society looks like when all this is over and how many new friendship bonds will have been made. They say what doesn’t kill you makes you stronger. Let’s pray that our society will be stronger when this is all over.