Thinking of you and your whānau, Emily. This paragraphs sums up so well how I’m feeling -
“You can’t mandate compassion and empathy for others. There’s no vaccine against selfishness and cruelty. Bridges are more than burnt…there is a scorched earth that we are trying to lay foundations on. And it’s still smoking”.
And then there’s the whole general wtf-ness about how we operate to protect our babies now 😑🥴
Thanks again, Emily, for your lovely writing. I don't understand it - we shouldn't just accept these daily deaths as ok. I am really triggered when people say we have to "learn to live with Covid"! It is such a loaded phrase which comes with a whole lot of information about what the person thinks. I mean, we have been "living with it" these past two years. If someone chooses to stay home to avoid catching it or passing it on, that is still "living with it" in the way they choose. But more importantly, for all of us to "live with it" that means some (many) people aren't going to "live" with it, they will die from it!!
I think if you believe wearing a mask or getting vaccinated is the greatest sacrifice you could ever make in your life, to the point that you’re willing to sacrifice lives just so you don’t have to do it - “living with it” means a return to an individualist capitalist world that makes you feel safe and comfortable if you have a lot and can keep building on that ‘lot’. If you value whānau and community and lives…you have a very different view. It’s very distressing.
Yes, that is so true. "Living with it" is a euphemism and I feel like people should be pressed to state what they really mean by it. E.g. that they consider a return to 'business as usual' and the economy etc is more important than the lives that are lost (of course so long as those lives lost are of some other people, not themselves or their friends or family).
I'm so sorry, Emily. When I heard the news, I instantly thought of you and families like yours, trying to keep immune compromised loved ones safe. You can't mandate kindness but for what it's worth, you can water the seed in people. I never thought of immune compromised families before I started reading your work, and you've helped my kindness to grow to be more encompassing. Because of you I've been talking to a lot of healthy, jaded friends today who are like "it doesn't mean anything" and explaining what it means for some families and they go "oh shit I didn't think of that" and I don't know where I'm going with this, other than, you're right you can't make people be kind but you specifically invite people to be kind and I think it works a kind of magic. All my love to you and your whanāu.
I feel really let down by the govt. on the one area that up until recently I felt they were doing so well on. I have yet to see any explanation as to why we are dropping mandates now? We are at the peak of the omicron outbreak, not down the other side of it. All I got from the PM's speech was basically "we are all tired"? That is not a real reason.
The timing does make one wonder if maybe the anti vax occupation had something to do with this, and that is an awful conclusion to draw. You know a lot of them must be thinking it worked and I hate to think that those kind of hateful and violent protesting methods might be getting rewarded
I agree. It feels like it’s rewarding the people who have sacrificed the least, who have done the least, who have put lives at risk - over everyone else.
ok i sat down and watched the PM's entire announcement and while I admit it contained Explainations, I didn't find them particularly coherent or compelling
I got from the presser that the timing of dropping selected mandates (in a little under 2 weeks) is when we're expected to be past the peak from the modelling, which is when they indicated quite a while ago that they would be easing restrictions. I don't agree with the choices the government have made around this at this time but my impression is that their messaging has been consistent over the past few months with regard to timing and not influenced by the ramshackle violent bunch at Parliament grounds
It does seem that the overarching view is that we can draw a line under Covid and pretend it never happened, let's just focus on GETTING BACK TO NORMAL, all while sticking our fingers in our ears and going "Lalalalalala!"
It sucks. It would be reasonable to ask us all to keep wearing masks, given the sudden rise in numbers over here in Australia where mask mandates have all been removed. I despair, I really do. I don't think I can ever go back to the way things were, for all the pretence. What has been seen/lived/felt cannot be unseen, unlived, or unfelt.
Masks are still to be worn indoors at red and orange levels in New Zealand and recommended at green. The government haven't removed that requirement which is one comfort at least
And the fact that they do make a difference is clear from the spike in cases here in Australia, where they have been removed as a requirement from many jurisdictions.
I find it so astounding that this decision has been made on a day when we’ve had another 20,000 new cases. Given that most people are actually just getting on with life and complying with restrictions, I can’t understand why we’ve decided to put people at risk, seemingly to placate the few squeaky wheels who apparently can’t do anything for the greater good.
I totally agree - I don’t understand how people keep insisting there’s some big divide and it’s like - a few thousand assholes screaming and the rest of the country is not a divide?
Thought of you as the announcements were made, Emily, and tried to make some sense of the reasoning. It struck me that they were all about public health, health as a bulk commodity, measured in thousands and averages, which is how population-wide measures have to work. I suppose that on average, by some metric, they may work. I wanted to believe they were soundly based. But I found myself listening in vain for compelling arguments that they were warranted so soon in the outbreak, or that the measures that remain to protect vulnerable families like yours, or ageing folk like us, are of much practical value. Repeated assertions that we are “keeping masking” were infuriating, because the mandate was never well thought through (still claiming gappy ole surgical masks provide good protection!), never underwritten by public provision of affordable or free masks on any scale, and, above all, never enforced. Enforcement devolved to front-line workers, besides exposing them to stress, abuse and infection, has been farcically ineffectual. I think maybe here in Auckland compliance is generally lower, and I suspect that rising resistance has pushed the government into the policy equivalent of learned helplessness. I wouldn’t trace it back to the Parliament protest, but quite a further - particularly to the failure to eliminate Delta because of rampant, documented non-compliance with lockdown. Most of it is not principled or deluded, just lazy or mindlessly oppositional. I suspect the public willingness to comply, absent enforcement, has been read fairly accurately. I wish it were otherwise. And I wish they wouldn’t insult us with excuses and dodgy reasoning.
Totally agree. Mask exemptions have always been an issue. It’s just another way anti vaxxers have harmed the disability community by co-opting sunflower lanyards and harassing people at the disability assembly for exemptions based on nothing. Kn95s are wildly expensive and hard to get for so many. I totally agree with what you’ve said - especially front line workers who have no had the small amount of protection they once had removed.
Terrified. I’m terrified. I feel like we have no value, yet I know all of us have so much to offer! Why don’t we count? Why don’t our children count? Why is ok for us to shelter in place because others find it all too hard to follow some pretty simple rules to keep others safe?
I’m also blown away by the fact Ashley Bloomfield doesn’t think there’s a mental health crisis in this country. The number of people I’ve taken to A&E to try and get psych emergency to damn well help them only to get told that they aren’t in a serious enough condition, or to be told to look after a suicidal person myself. Which I’ve done. I know people who killed themselves in the last three years because they could not get help.
Oofft - that scorched earth is still very hot to touch. I can't help thinking about what will feed the hunger for antiestablishment, misogynistic, able-ist... enter raft of BS. And I blame Putin for everything. The misinformation machine is well documented there.
But, Here. Now. How do we heal? I am really grateful for your insight and compassion.
I'm sorry you and others are feeling the way you do. I wish I could fix it. People can really suck. But even though I don't know you I care about your family and so do the majority. That's why we are vaccinated and we will keep doing what we can to protect your family and others.
Oh and I really would advise you not to go on social media tonight because there are some real wankers on there today and it took quite a bit of self control for me to not tell a whole lot of people to get fucked.
Beautifully put, as always. Covid ran through us the start of March, and 3 days of scary fevers with my 4-year-old thanks to low vax rates for kiddos at sister’s school… are enough to tell me vaccines are our armour. Please help us see the way through this storm. Your words calm me.
Thank you Emily. I needed a reminder to think kindly of those poor souls who have had a very difficult Covid time because they chose to be unvaccinated. I found myself almost thinking ‘serve you right’ when looking at the hospitalised numbers of unvaccinated people - a terrible way for a human to think. I’ve told myself to think kindly, I don’t have to like what they did but I do have to be kind.
They will always take it as a win because it’s in their value system to view Covid 19 as a game. We struggle so much, grieve so much, and feel so much rage when faced with that approach because it’s so at odds with a value system that is based on the idea that every single human being has value and should be protected.
I -thoroughly- agree with the comment and the original post but if this is a real name, can also imagine the person concerned causing a fuss: could the comment be anonymised or something?
Thinking of you and your whānau, Emily. This paragraphs sums up so well how I’m feeling -
“You can’t mandate compassion and empathy for others. There’s no vaccine against selfishness and cruelty. Bridges are more than burnt…there is a scorched earth that we are trying to lay foundations on. And it’s still smoking”.
And then there’s the whole general wtf-ness about how we operate to protect our babies now 😑🥴
Oh, I love that paragraph too - I feel that too. I am so disappointed in what seems like selfishness and a lack of empathy in others about all this.
Agree - that paragraph is excellent!
Thanks again, Emily, for your lovely writing. I don't understand it - we shouldn't just accept these daily deaths as ok. I am really triggered when people say we have to "learn to live with Covid"! It is such a loaded phrase which comes with a whole lot of information about what the person thinks. I mean, we have been "living with it" these past two years. If someone chooses to stay home to avoid catching it or passing it on, that is still "living with it" in the way they choose. But more importantly, for all of us to "live with it" that means some (many) people aren't going to "live" with it, they will die from it!!
I think if you believe wearing a mask or getting vaccinated is the greatest sacrifice you could ever make in your life, to the point that you’re willing to sacrifice lives just so you don’t have to do it - “living with it” means a return to an individualist capitalist world that makes you feel safe and comfortable if you have a lot and can keep building on that ‘lot’. If you value whānau and community and lives…you have a very different view. It’s very distressing.
Yes, that is so true. "Living with it" is a euphemism and I feel like people should be pressed to state what they really mean by it. E.g. that they consider a return to 'business as usual' and the economy etc is more important than the lives that are lost (of course so long as those lives lost are of some other people, not themselves or their friends or family).
I'm so sorry, Emily. When I heard the news, I instantly thought of you and families like yours, trying to keep immune compromised loved ones safe. You can't mandate kindness but for what it's worth, you can water the seed in people. I never thought of immune compromised families before I started reading your work, and you've helped my kindness to grow to be more encompassing. Because of you I've been talking to a lot of healthy, jaded friends today who are like "it doesn't mean anything" and explaining what it means for some families and they go "oh shit I didn't think of that" and I don't know where I'm going with this, other than, you're right you can't make people be kind but you specifically invite people to be kind and I think it works a kind of magic. All my love to you and your whanāu.
That means so much to me Anna. It truly does. Thank you so so much.
I feel really let down by the govt. on the one area that up until recently I felt they were doing so well on. I have yet to see any explanation as to why we are dropping mandates now? We are at the peak of the omicron outbreak, not down the other side of it. All I got from the PM's speech was basically "we are all tired"? That is not a real reason.
The timing does make one wonder if maybe the anti vax occupation had something to do with this, and that is an awful conclusion to draw. You know a lot of them must be thinking it worked and I hate to think that those kind of hateful and violent protesting methods might be getting rewarded
I agree. It feels like it’s rewarding the people who have sacrificed the least, who have done the least, who have put lives at risk - over everyone else.
ok i sat down and watched the PM's entire announcement and while I admit it contained Explainations, I didn't find them particularly coherent or compelling
I got from the presser that the timing of dropping selected mandates (in a little under 2 weeks) is when we're expected to be past the peak from the modelling, which is when they indicated quite a while ago that they would be easing restrictions. I don't agree with the choices the government have made around this at this time but my impression is that their messaging has been consistent over the past few months with regard to timing and not influenced by the ramshackle violent bunch at Parliament grounds
It does seem that the overarching view is that we can draw a line under Covid and pretend it never happened, let's just focus on GETTING BACK TO NORMAL, all while sticking our fingers in our ears and going "Lalalalalala!"
It sucks. It would be reasonable to ask us all to keep wearing masks, given the sudden rise in numbers over here in Australia where mask mandates have all been removed. I despair, I really do. I don't think I can ever go back to the way things were, for all the pretence. What has been seen/lived/felt cannot be unseen, unlived, or unfelt.
Sending you many healthful and protective vibes.
Yes - what we have lived through and the way people have behaved - it’s impossible to ignore that.
Masks are still to be worn indoors at red and orange levels in New Zealand and recommended at green. The government haven't removed that requirement which is one comfort at least
And the fact that they do make a difference is clear from the spike in cases here in Australia, where they have been removed as a requirement from many jurisdictions.
I find it so astounding that this decision has been made on a day when we’ve had another 20,000 new cases. Given that most people are actually just getting on with life and complying with restrictions, I can’t understand why we’ve decided to put people at risk, seemingly to placate the few squeaky wheels who apparently can’t do anything for the greater good.
I totally agree - I don’t understand how people keep insisting there’s some big divide and it’s like - a few thousand assholes screaming and the rest of the country is not a divide?
Thought of you as the announcements were made, Emily, and tried to make some sense of the reasoning. It struck me that they were all about public health, health as a bulk commodity, measured in thousands and averages, which is how population-wide measures have to work. I suppose that on average, by some metric, they may work. I wanted to believe they were soundly based. But I found myself listening in vain for compelling arguments that they were warranted so soon in the outbreak, or that the measures that remain to protect vulnerable families like yours, or ageing folk like us, are of much practical value. Repeated assertions that we are “keeping masking” were infuriating, because the mandate was never well thought through (still claiming gappy ole surgical masks provide good protection!), never underwritten by public provision of affordable or free masks on any scale, and, above all, never enforced. Enforcement devolved to front-line workers, besides exposing them to stress, abuse and infection, has been farcically ineffectual. I think maybe here in Auckland compliance is generally lower, and I suspect that rising resistance has pushed the government into the policy equivalent of learned helplessness. I wouldn’t trace it back to the Parliament protest, but quite a further - particularly to the failure to eliminate Delta because of rampant, documented non-compliance with lockdown. Most of it is not principled or deluded, just lazy or mindlessly oppositional. I suspect the public willingness to comply, absent enforcement, has been read fairly accurately. I wish it were otherwise. And I wish they wouldn’t insult us with excuses and dodgy reasoning.
Totally agree. Mask exemptions have always been an issue. It’s just another way anti vaxxers have harmed the disability community by co-opting sunflower lanyards and harassing people at the disability assembly for exemptions based on nothing. Kn95s are wildly expensive and hard to get for so many. I totally agree with what you’ve said - especially front line workers who have no had the small amount of protection they once had removed.
Terrified. I’m terrified. I feel like we have no value, yet I know all of us have so much to offer! Why don’t we count? Why don’t our children count? Why is ok for us to shelter in place because others find it all too hard to follow some pretty simple rules to keep others safe?
I’m also blown away by the fact Ashley Bloomfield doesn’t think there’s a mental health crisis in this country. The number of people I’ve taken to A&E to try and get psych emergency to damn well help them only to get told that they aren’t in a serious enough condition, or to be told to look after a suicidal person myself. Which I’ve done. I know people who killed themselves in the last three years because they could not get help.
Do we just stay at home forever??
I hear everything you’re saying ❤️ you’re not alone in feeling this way x
You hit the nail on the head for me. So unsure of how I feel about, well, everything. Thanks for the words when I struggle to find them. X
Oofft - that scorched earth is still very hot to touch. I can't help thinking about what will feed the hunger for antiestablishment, misogynistic, able-ist... enter raft of BS. And I blame Putin for everything. The misinformation machine is well documented there.
But, Here. Now. How do we heal? I am really grateful for your insight and compassion.
I'm sorry you and others are feeling the way you do. I wish I could fix it. People can really suck. But even though I don't know you I care about your family and so do the majority. That's why we are vaccinated and we will keep doing what we can to protect your family and others.
Oh and I really would advise you not to go on social media tonight because there are some real wankers on there today and it took quite a bit of self control for me to not tell a whole lot of people to get fucked.
Thank you Amanda ❤️ yeah I’m in my little hideaway. It’s nice to have this space.
Beautifully put, as always. Covid ran through us the start of March, and 3 days of scary fevers with my 4-year-old thanks to low vax rates for kiddos at sister’s school… are enough to tell me vaccines are our armour. Please help us see the way through this storm. Your words calm me.
Thank you Emily. I needed a reminder to think kindly of those poor souls who have had a very difficult Covid time because they chose to be unvaccinated. I found myself almost thinking ‘serve you right’ when looking at the hospitalised numbers of unvaccinated people - a terrible way for a human to think. I’ve told myself to think kindly, I don’t have to like what they did but I do have to be kind.
They will always take it as a win because it’s in their value system to view Covid 19 as a game. We struggle so much, grieve so much, and feel so much rage when faced with that approach because it’s so at odds with a value system that is based on the idea that every single human being has value and should be protected.
I -thoroughly- agree with the comment and the original post but if this is a real name, can also imagine the person concerned causing a fuss: could the comment be anonymised or something?