“All We Need is Faith, Optimism, Hope, Prayer, and Joy.” An Octogenarian from England.
Faces of Quarantine, One Virus Many Faces: John Moseley
As a retired person and a pensioner in my 80’s, I am lucky that I haven’t faced any economic or educational repercussions as most others have. However, I am in the age group of people who have been instructed by the government to quarantine. We are blessed to live close to the beautiful countryside on the edge of a small old and historic market town. Although the virus has restricted what we would typically do, we enjoy doing different things and, in some cases, more of what we usually do. We continue to go for our walks and have started cycling.
I have been missing many things that include seeing our friends, my weekly table tennis and tennis club, and also my weekly Spanish conversation group. Sadly, I had to cancel some holidays abroad, including a trip to my grandaughter’s graduation in Minnesota, a visit to our grandson and his wife, and also see some friends who live nearby there. Another thing we have missed as practicing Christians is our weekly church fellowship service and midweek small House Group. However, it is compensated partly by a video podcast service, which, as a result of modern tech wizardry, includes many people from their own homes. None of this would have been possible twenty or maybe even ten years ago. Our House Group of oldies don’t have virtual Zoom meetings, as some others do, but we have a group email to keep in touch with one another.
My usual routine of early morning prayer and Bible reading has continued, and it facilitates an excellent start to each day, which puts the events (or non-events) of each day into perspective. It just happens that when Covid 19 struck, I was reading Psalms daily. They are poems of praise, prayer, promise, and exhortation and express every aspect of human emotion and experience. The extra time has given us more time for personal prayer, and sometimes on one of our favorite cycle rides, we stop at a church on a hill overlooking the Severn Estuary and bridges. That is also a beautiful spot to sit and enjoy prayer, praise, and appreciate God’s beautiful creation. Appreciation and gratitude is a great antidote to worry and anxiety.
I have found many other benefits to help outweigh the downside. The weather has been beautiful, and its a blessing to lounge and have coffee in the garden. It has been an opportunity to keep meeting with our immediate neighbors over coffee most days while ensuring social distancing. We live in a small cul de sac of just nine houses, and two very kind neighbors are doing the shopping for us, and we had one other offer.
Another good thing is that I have learned how to get on Zoom meetings. Zoom allows us to see and talk to all our sons and their families together, and also my wife’s four siblings. I hope that these Saturday evening meetings will continue even when the lockdown is over.
My wife accepted some vegetable seeds from our neighbor, and I have now planted them. I would never have had the time or the inclination to do this in regular times, but now I do!. The rest of our small garden and lawns are also looking better and neater after a long time. Another thing we have been doing with the extra time is 500 and 1000 piece jigsaw puzzles — an interest we had in the past but not followed for many years. An additional blessing has been that with the massive reduction in air pollution, we have been able to enjoy the magnificent night sky in a way that hasn’t been possible for many years. The birds seem to be enjoying the clear skies, too, we know this by the birdsongs we hear.
There are some things that I have also found annoying. When the lockdown was anticipated but not enforced, there were a few, probably mainly well off families, that in their panic cleared supermarket shelves of many goods. I am appalled at the scammers who have been ripping off vulnerable people by implying they sell protective equipment at inflated prices that don’t exist and never arrive. There have also been others(a few not a lot) who have disregarded the lockdown, and continue to gather socially.
I feel our government was slow to respond in the early stages, especially in imposing the lockdown. However, since then, I think they have done their best with expert scientific advice and data to limit the transmission of the virus. It was unfortunate that our Prime Minister caught the virus and so he had to have other government ministers running things and conducting the daily briefing.
The crisis has highlighted some weaknesses in the current global economy. Our war and post-war generation was always encouraged to save regularly for a rainy day, but not anymore, people live paycheck to paycheck. I think it could be a long time before the world gets back if it ever does to the pre coronavirus time. Most global economies have been badly hit, and sadly as always with catastrophes, it’s the developing nations and poor people within the more affluent nations that suffer the most.
There is a shortage of many items because we purchase so much from abroad. Hopefully, this will push us to do more manufacturing in-house rather than depending on other countries for supplies. Some of this manufacturing is already taking place, especially in the personal protective equipment area. Also, our scientists have done a fantastic job of developing a vaccine for the coronavirus in such a short time, and the first trial volunteers received their injections this week. For the world leaders, I would hope to see greater cooperation and collaboration amongst nations, some of which we have seen during this pandemic. I would also hope that global businesses could be more compassionate and less greedy for power and profit, which, as we have seen, in times of catastrophes, can be harmful and destructive to humans.
I personally knew three people who have died of the virus. Many people have been fearful during this crisis, but I can honestly say that because of my faith in God, I have continued to feel at peace despite the storm. My message for the world suffering at this time is to be more conscious of your mortality and to make better preparation for eternity. Many of us have had encounters with death at very close quarters as a result of this. However, if we put our trust in Jesus, who can sympathize with us in our grief and suffering because being God, He suffered every human emotion, we can experience, and He walks with us during these difficult times as at all other times in our lives!
