Coronavirus has certainly changed the direction of our lives, albeit with temporary restrictions and announcements. Some of these alterations have been remarkably positive. Social media has come to the party and has provided a platform for staying connected with our family, friends and neighbours, all whilst in the throes of social distancing. Different groups have sprung out of nowhere, random acts of kindness have become commonplace, fun quizzes are being promoted and enjoyed and even this cyberspace Luddite is considering the benefits of Zoom and embracing Messenger.
Yesterday was Anzac Day, which is both an Australian public holiday and the remembrance and recognition of a military disaster that occurred during the First World War. Anzac Day is designed to encourage reflection and honour those men and women of the armed forces who perished throughout all those wars that were supposed to end all wars. Lest we forget.
Except, all this goodwill and hope we embrace on every Anzac Day hasn't translated into the cessation of warfare. We have just witnessed the extraordinary spectacle of ordinary people standing in their driveways before dawn on Saturday morning to remember all those who have fallen in battle. Yes, there was a genuine groundswell of creating this unique occasion - how to connect with each other whilst being apart on a day of mourning for lost lives.
And tomorrow is a public holiday as well, due to Anzac Day falling on a Saturday this year. Why? And why in 2020, during the COVID 19 pandemic? The soldiers who were massacred at that hellhole called Gallipoli didn't get a break. They never should have been there, but a landing error put all those poor bastards at the bottom of the Turkish coastal cliffs. They were lambs to the slaughter.
And what about the horror of Fromelles in July 1916. Australia had a population of about four million during the Great War and nearly forty percent of all men between eighteen and forty enlisted in the armed forces. At that battle, nearly two thousand Australians were thought to have died in a single day. Another three and a half thousand were wounded. If news of this utterly predictable tragedy had been released and received in Real-Time, would Australians have protested in the futility of this war and demanded the immediate repatriation of troops?
Coronavirus has illustrated the dangers of information overload. The daily and hourly reports have the ability to suck any positivity out of us and replace that with fear and foreboding. However, as time has moved along during this global crisis, the news, and particularly the "flattening of the curve" scenario has been heartening and this new normal has become less terrifying.
In Australia, at least. Except this whole notion of "we're all in this together" has masked other unpleasant realities. Domestic violence has risen with the lockdown. There are still not enough refuges. Domestic violence victims are continuing to die. The homeless still have few alternatives. Some lucky ones have found temporary accommodation in hotels. What happens to them when this emergency is deemed over? And the new "Jobseeker" payment which has replaced Newstart with a higher benefit, due to the numbers of newly unemployed. Will those who remain jobless at the end of Coronavirus be reviled once more as "dole bludgers" and their financial safety net reduced below the poverty line once more?
And at the edge of the Australian territory, a family is being held whilst lawyers fight for either their release or deportation. Two Sri Lankan parents and their Australian born little girls are the only inhabitants of the Christmas Island Detention Centre. Having settled in the small central Queensland town of Biloela, they had fully integrated into local life. Anecdotally, their initial seizure from their home had been facilitated by an administrative delay in their visa documents, which had been reported to Border Force and either ignored or disregarded.
What do these instances say about us as Australians? What has happened to a fair go for all? Why did the vast majority of the electorate feel, before Coronavirus, very little connection with business, industry and government? What about those in fire-affected communities who are still waiting for assistance? They haven't fallen off the edge of the world but the powers that be appear to have forgotten their plight. And will these welcomed changes to welfare remain or quietly be reversed once more? Scott Morrison, the Australian Prime Minister has certainly lifted his game, but his refusal to include the Opposition leader in the National Cabinet could be viewed as narrow and partisan in nature.
Bernard Salt, in his weekly column, discussed the end of narcissism in Australian society and the creation of a more compassionate"we" than "me" community. I would like to think this is possible. We are, by nature, rather selfish beings. If we were not, there would be enough shelters for those abused, enough housing for all, a determined effort to stay out of other nations' wars and the compassionate release of refugees who have risked life and limb to leave their former homes.
Phillip Adams, another of my favourite social commentators, recorded the grim tally of wars, most of which we have followed the United States or the United Kingdom into battle. Plus allowing Britain to explode nuclear warheads on various parts of our country and buying armaments from all over the world instead of making them here. If Coronavirus has taught us anything, we need to re-establish a manufacturing base within this country.
And please, let's not blindly be like the United States of America. Remember 9/11 and the outpouring of grief and rage and retaliation against the presumed enemy. In this new age of the pandemic, who in the United States is mourning this outrageous loss of life due to COVID 19, apart from the families of victims. Nearly three thousand died on 11 September. That figure was surpassed in a single day recently of COVID 19 casualties. Where is the collective sadness, the pulling together, a country united in a focus to beat the virus? Where is the leadership, the steadier of the ship? Instead, the Americans have a bizarre buffoon more worried about television ratings, lunatic claims of cures, encouraging his supporters to break laws and attempting to keep the American economy going instead of hunkering down and saving lives. In the Land of the Free, with no social safety nets, the undeniable mood is "all about me" There is no us.
Watching the chaos descending within the United States, for God's sake, get out if you are able. Unless there is a monumental shift in thinking, many Americans will continue to deliberately and systemically devalue others. If this wasn't the case, there would be health care, education and welfare for all. The United States is at a crossroads but I fear they will follow the same route.
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