Page 7 - May 2020 parish mag_Classical

What to do? Apart from making financial contributions to NGOs supporting these
communities, I feel helpless. I therefore turn to those immediately around me and try
to reach out without touching!
Every day, I call two fellow retirement villagers, who live alone. Using our internal
telephone system, I chat to them in the hope of breaking the monotony of their day.
As I have a garden around my cottage, I also dash out and speak to any passing villager
that I know - from a respectful distance, and with the garden wall and garden beds
between us. Before lockdown, I might have glanced up from what I was doing, seen
them, but not made the effort to chat. I would also not have been calling those living
alone.
This period – and we are only one week into it - has made me acutely aware of the
privileges I enjoy, and of the simple pleasures that I take so for granted. It has also
engendered a feeling of solidarity with my fellow countrymen that I was not aware
of feeling as strongly previously. I am overwhelmingly grateful to live under the
leadership of our current president, and vehemently hope that we will all come out
of this extreme situation a better and stronger people.
Rosemary Alexander

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