My life becomes more surreal with every day

We have been on lockdown for a few days short of twelve weeks now. We are very fortunate: we have a house with a garden, good wifi, many books and (eventually) access to food delivery services. We have walked around the block but haven’t had to visit shops. 

I have “attended” webinars and had several zoom meetings, watched my great nephew’s barmitzvah on zoom, shared a zoom Passover Seder and had many FaceTime conversations as well as telephone conversations. It hasn’t been unpleasant, in fact quite restful as there is no time pressure and little stress.

We are not all in this together. I cannot compare my own very privileged situation with those working in front-line services which include not only the caring professions, but also the delivery people, people in supermarkets, who clear our rubbish and recycling – the list goes on. I am not in a tiny flat; I don’t have small children at home, I am not home schooling while trying to work from home – this list goes on as well.

That’s why it all feels a bit surreal – isolated from the world. Let alone what is happening in the UK, I have also watched what is happening in the USA in horror – both in the response to COVID-19 and now to the murder of a black man. 

At the beginning of the lock-down I decided that I would only do what I could do and shut out the rest.  I cannot go to the food bank that I normally support every week so I have donated money (and happily they have been inundated with donations of food). I have supported a few other charities as well.

I watch the news headlines and the daily broadcast from Downing Street – I don’t watch very much else. However, the situation in the USA is so shocking. I admire Trevor Noah, a South African of mixed race now living in the USA.  Read his story it is fascinating. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Trevor_Noah

Here he shares his thoughts on the killing of George Floyd, the protests in Minneapolis, the dominos of racial injustice and police brutality, and how the contract between society and black Americans has been broken time and time again. The riots are awful and self-defeating to the rest of us – perhaps one can understand them better after reading this.

Trevor Noah on race in America