After a hectic week of cancellations, closures and rapidly changing social guidelines, these last few days have felt decidedly more calm.
We have started to settle into this ‘new normal’ and our mindsets are adjusting.
The thought of going to a busy bar or crowded store somehow feels alien now.
But while I haven’t seen a real human besides my husband for the last week or so, I have been having more connections and conversations than before.
Community members, extended family and old friends are checking in, reaching out, sharing information and discussing our present and future situations.
Our doors may be closed but our hearts are more open than ever before.
I have heard so many little stories about people helping each other out.
Children are painting pictures to hang in their windows for passers-by, and families are writing inspirational quotes on sidewalks in chalk for others to see.
A Facebook group set up by Community Outreach Services for Jasperites to help neighbours in need gained nearly 1,000 members in 24 hours (search Jasper COVID-19 Mutual Aid on Facebook). There are now more than 1,300 members - more than a quarter of Jasper’s population - and most of them are offering help.
Our kindness and community values are what will get us through this difficult time.
Keep yourself well in mind, body and spirit. Get outdoors, while you still can.
My family in England are now under total lockdown. They are only allowed to leave the house to go to a grocery store or pharmacy, to exercise alone once a day, or to go to work if they can’t work from home.
We’re not there yet in Alberta. To me, police patrolling the streets to enforce social distancing crosses into dystopian.
But to avoid that next step everybody has to follow the measures.
Please encourage people to stay indoors, or outdoors at an appropriate distance from other people.
Take isolation seriously when you come home from abroad. If it’s your friend or loved one, either wait that extra 14 days to see them or you have to be completely quarantined too.
Be smart and respectful, kind and open-hearted. These are trying times but ones that we will get through together.
Fuchsia Dragon
