While we are told the sacrifice is needed to protect the elderly and vulnerable (it is not denied that Covid19 is a threat largely confined to that group and co-morbidities and relatively harmless to everybody else), the wishes of these people seems hardly to be taken into account.
We read so many awful stories about old lonely people protesting that they would rather take the risk of Covid than be prevented from seeing their children and grand-children in their twilight years.
Yesterday I came across something that also struck me:
As some people who may have read other posts by me might now, I am in Paris and a regular at "speakeasy" bars and restaurants that have developed around here.
To re-cap briefly: bars and restaurants in France have been closed since November except for "take-away". This time round, in contrast to the first closure in the spring, people are more fed up than scarred and some bars and restaurants are discreetly ignoring the regulations and allowing drinking and dinning as usual, "in rooms at the back"
I was in one such establishment yesterday evening and took a few discreet photos to send to friends in the UK. It was early evening, few people were there and I tried to keep as many people out of the shot as possible, but one older man got in. The reply from a friend in the UK made me think and realise - especially as the place filled up later in the evening:
Most of the clients in these secret bars and restaurants are the elderly!
Many people would think it is reckless young folk but, no. The majority of people breaking rules and regulations and going to drink and eat out, are in their 70s and 80s. The explanation and logic is overwhelming:
1. They are hardly afraid of breaking some law they consider silly. They are not impressed and will not be told what to do by a young man in his 40s going on TV and saying "I am minister for health".
2. They tend to be alone. Their children have long grown up and left home. Many are widows or widowers. Going out for an evening drink is their contact with the world.
3. As many tend to say when I ask them: "it is my life, and if this is how it will end, then so be it."
This is another dimension to the current hysteria. People get on their high-horses and talk about "saving lives" and scream "you are killing people" at anyone who dares to talk back, but have any of these self-righteous characters actually bothered talking to the people at risk? In whose name they seek to oppress everyone else.
I was speaking to a friend the other day whose elderly and ill mother tested positive. She is diabetic, has high blood pressure and an underlying cardiac condition. When I last visited with the family, about 2 years ago, I remember she has an oxygen tank by her all the time. She lives in a large house with her carer - the same large house she shared with her husband who died a few years ago. Her greatest joy is when her children come to visit, bringing their families and her grandchildren along. And two great grandchildren.
So far she has no symptoms and heaven knows how reliable the test is.
Since she tested positive a dispute blew up between one son and one daughter. The daughter wants to admit the mother to a specialist Covid hospital ward where she would be shielded, isolated etc. The son says this will be torture. The dispute was finally settled by the mother herself who declared: "I am staying here. If you are telling me I go into some medical prison or I die. Then that is my choice."
Maybe we should show some respect to the elderly, instead of treating them like newborns and enfants who have not developed any cognitive abilities and have no rights to have any opinions. Many of these older people - if not all - have been through experiences in life that would make people like Mr Hancock and the young lads on SAGE appear to be the enfants by comparison.
These are very good points that you make Teebs.
I had a very similar experience this week. I rang my ex Mother and Father in law this week to check they were ok, both being just either side of 80, and being required to shield. My ex Mother in law's response, was and l quote, "Totally fed up being stuck in these four walls, both wish we could catch Covid and die, just totally fed up of not seeing grandchildren and going to our club or even out shopping for goodness sake"
As l have said before how can destroying humanity be seen as saving lives, there are no lives being lived!!!!
A good post, Teebs.
It is about a few people claiming to represent a large group of others without even asking for their views. We see that happening in many walks of life. I see it as politics - the control of others, as opposed to (true) religion - the control of oneself.
People who are keen to control others may least like to be controlled themselves. And I suggest that it is those who do not experience the hardship from the anti-covid controls that are the ones who are most pushing for them.
The effect of loneliness on the elderly seems to have a great effect on their mortality. When people feel as if they serve no function in the world, there is a tendency to let go of life. The elderly people that you refer to have established alternative groups in which they can function.
A further point - and this is where lockdown fails - is that people need to get out to remain healthy. They need movement, exercise, fresh air and vitamin d. This is particularly true of the elderly who may have been terrified by governnent and media propaganda.
I'm a volunteer for the Prince's Trust and when I meet a group of young people, I tell them that the reason for volunteering is that society has been divided into disparate groups and that the old can learn from the young and the young can learn from the old, and I'm there to prove the point as an 'old' person, although I don't use that term anywhere else. This is my observation over a number of years;that the media started to divide people, along with the government into groups. However, because of this division, everyone has lost out, as the wisdom (hopefully) and knowledge that age brings is not being observed by younger people generally, as everyone is going their separate ways. The young have lots of insight into the world that is different, and especially in this digital world, their knowledge is valuable to older people who perhaps, don't have this insight. It is a reciprocal thing. It is also, our world that they will inherit. I know that my list of friends range from age 2 onwards and do not know anyone that is my age; they are all much younger, and I intend to keep it that way, especially as the odds are stacked against me!And yes, I don't do lockdown because I absolutely know that it is based on false evidence from the Drostner test, and the media hype.and I don't need other people to protect me. However, I love being in my home, on my own with noone around, so perhaps, I'm exceptional on that front.
... society has been divided into disparate groups and that the old can learn from the young and the young can learn from the old ...
We could learn a lot from societies that foster a strong connection between grandparents and grandchildren. Sadly, lockdown militates against it.
However, I love being in my home, on my own with noone around, so perhaps, I'm exceptional on that front.
Me too. Neither covid nor the (worse) anti-covid measures affect me personally - but I am moved to help others out of the fear, stress and misery that both have caused.
