Today Ontario declared a state of emergency. It joins PEI and Quebec in doing so. This really is crunch time and we all have to act responsibly. Andre Picard writes:
The only way to slow this pandemic is for all of us to become helpers, to embrace the now-familiar concepts of social distancing and self-isolation. In these extraordinary times, we are being asked to take extraordinary actions.
Work from home. Avoid social gatherings. Stop all travel. If you’ve returned from travel, self-isolate – meaning no contact with anyone for 14 days. Schools are being closed. Our sources of entertainment, from pro sports to theatres, are being shut down. Soon, so too will restaurants, bars, malls and all other non-essential services. Grocery stores and pharmacies will remain open.
These are sacrifices. They will last for a while. But we’ve survived much worse.
In times of crisis, it is always the most vulnerable who suffer most – the frail elderly, people with disabilities, the working poor, the homeless.
Social solidarity is needed now more than ever, and one senses that it is building.
For fifty years, we have been on a hyper-individualism sugar high, egged on by Maggie Thatcher's declaration that "there is no such thing as society." Obviously, the Iron Lady was dead wrong. It is society that enables us to survive.
Image: Opening Gates
2 comments:
Whatever happened to the concept of common weal? We need to bring it back.
I agree wholeheartedly, Toby. There has always been such a thing as "the common good."
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