Dear friends, I thought I should post something here to address the Corona Virus situation in the world at the moment. I will continue to post a few more videos, all of which were pre-corona virus Pandemic.
We are in an unprecendented situation at the moment. The world hasn't seen something of this magnitude in recent history. It probably wont be the last time either. However,I believe we will get through this if we stay calm and sensible. Yes there will be inconveniences, but the world has gone through tough times in the past and when we dig deep and come together as a community and help each other, human beings have shown they can be very resiliant. We need to take the situation seriously, be sensible, take precautions and support each other. We have to be careful not to blame any one group of people or any one country. We have to deal with what is right in front of us. Take one step at a time.
Here is Australia things are not too bad at the moment although that could change by the time this goes online. There are a couple of reasons for that.
-We are an Island, so less points of entry to monitor.
-We have less population, and a for Western Australia, we have a bloody big desert on one side and a bloody big ocean on the other. Sometimes there are advantages to being the most isolated city in the world!
-Next, our government acted quickly and decisevly. We went into "Pandemic mode" before it was declared a pandemic.
-Fortunately, we had a robust economy going into this (we will see how robust it is afterwards).
We have not closed down schools yet, which is good for me as i have just started to get "relief teaching" work. If the schools do close down, I will be out of work again. We have banned large Static gatherings such as sporting games etc. As you have probably heard, some people went a little crazy over toilet paper. I am not sure why, as you cannot eat it (if you are quarrantined for two weeks). I had a few rolls in my cupboard that should last me a whole bloody year! As you might know, Aussies have a warped sense of humor. We call this whole thing "My Corona" (based on the song) and below I have attached the "Ballad of Dunny Roll" (put to the same cadence as "The Man from Snowy River" by Banjo Patterson). Check it out as we have to find places to laugh.
So far the world has had to deal with Natural disasters one at a time. With climate change upon us, we will soon find ourselves battling overlapping natural disasters. Australia was lucky that we were able to (mostly) deal with the bush fire dissasters before this pandemic struck. Although, I am sure there are still people needing recovery help from that event. Imagine what it would have been like for us if both had occurred at the same time! Maybe this is practice for us for what might come in the future. How we deal with this now and the lessons we learn will determine how we cope down the road. I just heard that schools in the US have closed until the end of March. Thank goodness for computers and online learning!!
So dear friends, I am thinking of you all. My son Daniel has come back to NC but Ben has decided to stick it out in California. Where ever you all are take precautions. Wear latex gloves if you have to. But remember be kind to each other, look out for your neighbours, share resources. This is why we have to learn how to build community. This will blow over and we will rebuild and get back up and running again before too long.
So enjoy the next few videos on the blog and the video and photos below. Keep me posted on how you are all doing. I love you all, and miss you heaps, especially my boys.
Night then Sunrise over the city from my verandah.
