What has this situation taught you?

[Bearbehind]

Mine are

• Individually, we’re each pretty insignificant
• A lot of day to day shit really doesn’t matter
• There’s somethings that are so far beyond our control it’s pretty much incomprehensible
• There's an awful lot of selfish fuckers out there who think rules don’t apply to them
• There’s an awful lot of people out there who put others before themselves and do what they can to help

How ordinary people got behind totalitarian regimes.

That I underestimated just how many entitled, selfish and idiotic tools there are out there.

Interesting that these two posts happened to pop up next to each other. Do you really think we currently have a totalitarian regime Beetroot?

The world used to be so noisy.

I love it now it is quieter.

It is better for my mental health in many ways. I am relishing the serenity.

There are downsides, but these are the definite up.

That a lot of people relish the chance to dob their friends and neighbours in to the police, and love being able to think they're right and others are wrong. I understand how the Stasi got hundreds of thousands of informants now.

And how quickly radical change can happen. At university I studied punctuated equilibrium in evolution - long periods of relative stability in a species interspersed by relative brief periods of rapid change. Seems like the same applies to human society.

Consequently, how fragile western democratic civilization is.

I used to be puzzled when people said this, but now I see how they panic about it, I understand

But this only serves to highlight why we need to talk about it more. Anxiety about death is a side effect of our lack of exposure to it and our unwillingness to talk about it as a society.

I get that it makes people worried but that doesn't give a good enough reason to avoid talking about the inevitable.

The lack of talk of death means that it stops rational conversations about death, how to prevent death and how to have more dignified deaths. Its what's driving the emotional response in the void of an a sense of rational conversation about death.

Anxiety is an emotional response. You combat that by encouraging rational debate. It's what helps you to cope with anxiety.

Red, I’m saying I agree with you.

Previously I thought people were mostly bright enough to accept death.

Safari “That a lot of people relish the chance to dob their friends and neighbours in to the police, and love being able to think they're right and others are wrong. I understand how the Stasi got hundreds of thousands of informants now.“

This is something I’ve been shocked to learn too.

Social distancing seems to be my natural state .

Never realised how many times a day I go to the shops. An enormous amount for a person with very little spare cash.

Lilac I knew you agreed with me.

Dressing “ Never realised how many times a day I go to the shops”

Funny isn’t it, I avoid shops if I can.

That all the Government really needed to do, to get people off the couch and moving, was to tell them to stay home. . .

That a 'mild' illness can be highly unpleasant. That we can nationalise the railways any time we like.

I've had it confirmed to me that when it comes to people, there are few grey areas..they are either decent, moral and caring ..or not.

I know in my heart that the panic buyers and the lockdown voters are the same people that voted Conservative and for Brexit, as it that same selfish ignorance coming to the fore again.

If I could, If it was really practical, I would now like to live in a more tolerant, socially responsible country.

1. I am very lucky to happy the family that I have.
2. It is really important to have a moral compass; to know what you think is right and be able to stick to it even in difficult circumstances.
3. Simple domestic skills are under valued in our society and it can cost you dear.
4. For too long we have allowed ourselves to be identified as consumers, defined by what we have and how we spend. We are people, citizens, individuals.
5. Celebrity culture is rubbish. Instead of lapping it up it would be better to spend more time on each other and on holding those in power to account.
6. Having all this time to reflect is making me pompous.

*Should say 'lockdown ignorers, not voters!

I agree with Yetanother about the quiet and lack of noice in the world, it’s bloody brilliant.

I realise this is a total impractical illogical impossibility but why can’t we live this slow pace of life in general. We were so busy busying ourselves to be busy to keep busy in a busy world that we forgot what it means to be still.

Also agree with bengalcat I think my natural state is to be socially distant too ha!

@GoodbyeRosie I just want to say that I agreed with the lockdown ...I am NOT Conservative though and never have been. I also voted remain.

That so many adults struggle to follow a very clear set of rules

WHOOPS @GoodbyeRosie just saw your update

Please Ignore me haha

(I have certainly been abiding to the lockdown)

How helpful and caring some folk are and how stupid, selfish and downright stubborn others are.

What massive hypocrites a number of my friends seem to be.

That I love our toddler dearly and am blessed to have this extra WFH time with her, but I could never be a SAHM (luckily am a teacher, so should hopefully still have a job after this).

That we need a bigger house and an enclosed garden (aforementioned job as a teacher makes this unlikely but one can dream!).

That I am alarmingly addicted to chocolate.

That DP and I work way too hard and don’t know wh

That there are a huge number of statsi-in -waiting

Goodbye “ know in my heart that the panic buyers and the lockdown voters are the same people that voted Conservative and for Brexit, as it that same selfish ignorance coming to the fore again.”

Weird theory.

I have become used to blaming myself (actively encouraged to do so) for not being strong or resilient enough but I have now realised that life really has dealt me some awful blows in the last five years that no one could cope with unscathed.

I can also see that these blows have resulted from a woefully underfunded NHS and education system that have left me to deal with a dying mother (shocking to see a district nurse in tears - thankfully she could access a GP (mum had been deregistered) and so a morphine pump could be set up to end her agony) and autistic DC left with no education and shocking MH provision.

I need counselling for PTSD but things need to change. It doesn't have to be this way.