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The media are full of comments about the easing/ending of Covid restrictions following the Prime Minister’s statement yesterday and the Scottish Clinical Director’s remarks. For most of us restrictions can be frustrating, though we have grown used to many of them, and we can feel uncomfortable if someone without a mask comes within 2m of us. There are a range of other perspectives on them: those with businesses unable to open or to operate profitably because of the restrictions; people who have to isolate because they (or their children) have been in proximity to someone who has/or might have tested positive; those working in healthcare who are trying to catch up on the backlog of cases, cope with an increasing number of Covid-related cases and the re-arrangement of facilities that requires, as well as with their own tiredness and stress after the last 15 months; those who see hope of meeting up with family abroad retreating into the distance; some areas have very few cases, some have high instances. What works for us doesn’t work for someone else, and vice versa. It’s so easy at a time like this, after fifteen months of unprecedented restrictions, to focus only on what ‘we’ want. Balancing our wishes with those of other people is hard. Let’s hope that as communities and countries we can do that, to think of the needs of others and not just ourselves
Lord, any postponement of easing restrictions is hard to accept, when plans were made and hopes were raised. Help us to think not just of ourselves, but also others, and their needs
