The Future To Come...

The following short clip from a piece by Italian novelist Francesca Melandri, who has been under lockdown in Rome for almost three weeks highlights how our perspective will change over the next few weeks and months. Each of us will be doing some self evaluation as the new reality sets in.

The true nature of the people around you will be revealed with total clarity. You will have confirmations and surprises.

Literati who had been omnipresent in the news will disappear, their opinions suddenly irrelevant; some will take refuge in rationalisations which will be so totally lacking in empathy that people will stop listening to them. People whom you had overlooked, instead, will turn out to be reassuring, generous, reliable, pragmatic and clairvoyant.

Those who invite you to see all this mess as an opportunity for planetary renewal will help you to put things in a larger perspective. You will also find them terribly annoying: nice, the planet is breathing better because of the halved CO2 emissions, but how will you pay your bills next month?

You will not understand if witnessing the birth of a new world is more a grandiose or a miserable affair.

See https://www.theguardian.com/world/2020/mar/27/a-letter-to-the-uk-from-italy-this-is-what-we-know-about-your-future

On a somewhat related issue I note that here in Ontario, and I presume elsewhere, public recreational spaces have been closed leaving many folks little choice but to sit inside and look at the walls. 

The Ford government is ordering the closure of all communal outdoor recreational amenities across Ontario in order to help stem the transmission of COVID-19.
The order was issued under the Emergency Management and Civil Protection Act last night and is effective immediately.

Particularly those in urban areas, who want to 'get a little fresh air' and get out of their house or apartment for a short while, walk their dog or otherwise refresh body AND mind have very few choices left. Whilst we all understand that congregating in even small groups should be avoided and that both the volume of folks now not working and seeking exercise and fresh air coupled with a few uncaring people who made no effort to maintain 'social distancing' perhaps made these restrictions necessary I begin to wonder if there will be a substantial upswing in the  call for mental health support in the coming months. 
Stay safe folks and look after your physical and mental heath as best you can in thee difficult times.

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