UPDATE: After all that clapping, when it was time to debate a pay rise for health and social care workers, only 20 members of parliament showed up! I guess this is what we truly think about the NHS. The threat of imminent death is no longer upon us so it is back to business as usual. I shake my head in italics.
The following was originally posted on: March 26 2020
We have apparently clapped for “our” carers today. Nothing brings the world together better than the fear of death and yet we collectively ignore the perils of life. We refuse to care about things that don’t directly affect us. Poverty remains a pandemic. Prejudice remains a pandemic. The Patriarchy remains a pandemic. Coronavirus is a pandemic partly because we are still in the dark age of inequality.
I wonder whether those who voted for #brexit because they wanted to send immigrants packing and get their country back, will now refuse care from said immigrants if they are unfortunate enough to need it. In total, around 139,000 of the 1.2 million #NHS employees are foreign nationals – equating to one in eight (12.5 per cent). Of these, around 62,000 – or 5.6 per cent of all employees – come from EU countries. Hopefully in these crazy times, some of us will step out of ourselves and realise that our divisiveness and selfish interests do not yield progress or productivity in any way shape or form.
Hopefully when this is all over, we won’t forget who kept the world together when this proverbial #COVID sh!t hit the fan. Hopefully we clapped with our hearts too and not just our hands for viral videos. Hopefully many more real acts of kindness will begin to go viral too. Perhaps we are in the age of change as the world heals? Perhaps a pay rise for those who actually deserve it? I can only hope.
Today I clapped for the doctors and nurses as well as the porters, the janitors, the cleaners, the bin men, the care assistants, teachers, the ambulance crew, the fire services, the shopkeepers, the delivery drivers, the truck drivers, post men, bus drivers, taxi drivers, the military, the police force, the helpline assistants, the clerks and those in the justice system ensuring that things don’t fall apart completely, the social workers, the support services for children, mental health, domestic abuse etc… This list could go on.
The majority of these roles are not necessarily roles that we readily aspire to. No child will tell you that they want to be a hospital cleaner when they grow up. But these are the people who are the thread in society’s fabric, holding it all together at a time like this.
I salute you.
I thank you.
I applaud you.
Amidst the public scrutiny, I can’t help but empathise with Khelif, who finds herself at the center of a controversy over circumstances beyond her control. The emotional toll of being thrust into the spotlight and having her identity scrutinised must be overwhelming, all for simply existing outside the bounds of society’s rigid gender expectations.
Country first? It is time for a government that puts its people first because if there is a lesson to take away from this election, it is that good governance is not only measured by economic growth, national security, and international standing but also by addressing the needs, rights, and welfare of the people.
In ancient Rome, Juvenal coined “bread and circuses” to describe a political strategy of superficial appeasements to distract from significant issues. Nigeria’s recent decision to revert its national anthem to that of its colonial era amidst a struggling economy and public unrest reminds me of this.
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