“I have no idea what’s awaiting me, or what will happen when this all ends. For the moment I know this: there are sick people and they need curing.”
The French existentialist author Albert Camus wrote this in his 1947 book The Plague.
How prophetic for our experiences 73 years later.
This has been a difficult week for many of us. It has been a difficult week for our families, our friends, and especially our business community.
Stage Four Restrictions are here. Many people have had their lives put on hold and feel they face an uncertain future.
Businesses have been forced to close, and people are asking why such a sacrifice has to be made.
But understand this. People are dying. And without difficult measures, many more will die. And we cannot become people prepared to put a price on life.
If a single business owner was asked “if you could save a human being’s life by ceasing to trade for six weeks, would you?” I believe the answer would unequivocally be “yes”.
The truth is that every one of those business owners, by their collective sacrifice, have the potential to save not just one life, but hundreds of lives. That makes them heroes.
The truth is that by staying home, wearing masks, and getting tested if we have symptoms, we are all, by our collective sacrifice, contributing to saving hundreds of lives. That makes us all heroes.
The truth is that it is frustrating, it is isolating, and it is financially challenging for many. But we are in this together. We will beat this together.
In Albert Camus’ novel, the plague was beaten. Church bells pealed, cafes and bars filled and people danced in the squares under a sky of pure, unwavering blue. At night, fireworks filled the skies and jubilant crowds filled the street.
That is all ahead of us and something to look forward to. But we are not there yet.
“For the moment I know this: there are sick people and they need curing.”
Cameron McCullough
Publisher – Mornington Peninsula News Group