Reflections on the Day of Reflection

Yesterday (23rdMarch 2021) marked the 1st national day of reflection , 1 year since we entered the first lock down .

How different the world looks today…………… Humankind has displayed the best and the worse of its spirit. We have seen kindness and compassion soar , but we have also seen loss, grief, and devastation like never before. We have seen the heightened awareness of the inequalities within our society, yet we have seen the compassionate recognition and the desire to address this too.

The pandemic has made many reflect on what is important in their lives and reach out to their communities, but it has also caused isolation and loneliness to increase exponentially, or has it just brought it out into the open so we now see what was invisible as we scurried around in our busy lives. Speaking to someone on a screen can no way replace the being alongside, or the just being with someone, but we still push forward – our ability to overcome adversity is both motivating and humbling.

We have strived for years to improve the chances of people to die at home, yet the pandemic has done this within a period of months. Home deaths have never been at such a high rate , however they are not the home deaths we envisaged , they are not the home deaths where people are surrounded by loving family and friends, holding hands and cradling their dying loved one in the sanctity and safety of a loving space as their soul moves on. Death for many has been a challenging, solitary event, not at all how we would have planned . We witness, or indeed have been members of families supporting those they love, through windows , locked doors, and video screens or through latex and plastic. Yet amidst that turmoil, the stories of how creative we have been , how we have continued to connect albeit in a different way, are inspirational . We have looked for the channels to drive forward our need to be together and we have found them.

The outpouring of grief during the day was beyond words – indeed there are no words, yet somewhere within that tsunami of distress the healing was beginning – people sharing their personal tragedy were still able to reach out to each other offering support and solace, their tears and pain were bonding, uniting them in creating a tranquil and peaceful place where they were truly a collective, a community.

The experience was exhausting and exhilarating yet out of those embers came hope and reassurance that resonate in the words of Captain Tom Moore “ My today was all right and my tomorrow will certainly be better”.