corona virusBefore the Surge

Today as we enter lockdown here in Ireland we are also waiting for the surge. So many new terms for our condition; social distancing, cocooning, washing hands, not touching our face, and of course the surge. In a matter of days my perception of the world has changed. Daily I search online for news, mostly news of deaths, across the world. Nightly I wait for our own account of new cases and new deaths. And recently when watching television, I shuddered when I saw a normal gathering of people — too close too close I thought — and I physically recoiled when two people hugged on screen. Suddenly two metres is the new norm.

As a young teenage I loved history and studied it in Trinity. I particularly loved World War 1 for many reasons including the innocence, the heroism, and the misplaced notions of patriotism. In a war fought over a tiny principality the reality was far from any notion of fighting for good, whatever that might mean anyway. I studied stories in the trenches, about the boredom and then the going over the top. I read one story of a young captain who brought his football to the front line. When they went over the top, he kicked the ball ahead and charged after it — but died in a matter of minutes. Oh the sheer folly of everything.

Even as I studied the history of World War 1, I also shuddered in fear about my own three brothers, thanking the heavens that they were not alive during that time. Living in peace was good.

Of course, I never thought that I would have to fear for my two sisters, nurses both…