2020 – A Memorable Year?
The world is in a really weird space in history and when you think about the major ‘corrections’ that have taken place in history, the current pandemic has possibly impacted more people in a much shorter time frame.
And yet it is not universally impacting every country to the same degree and you wonder why that happens (or does not happen according to where you are).
I was ‘zooming’ a few days ago with colleagues from other Baptist care providers and, as we shared, a variety of stories on the impacts / challenges that have been placed before us over the last two months all of our journeys were very similar – we had planned for the worst and forever grateful that the worst did not eventuate.
One of our colleagues was able to share the news that our Prime Minister, at one of these heads of Government meetings (probably over ‘zoom’) was purportedly quizzed by many the leaders of many countries as to how Australia has managed our long term care residents (residential aged care) so well with such a minor impact on our resident population compared to the rest of the world.
Unfortunately, I do not know how the PM responded (but I would really like to know).
From our perspective, planning and discipline have been the key factors from what we could do to influence the outcomes, but there were many external factors beyond our control which did not eventuate. Good luck and good management (not necessarily in that order) gave us a good outcome.
Notwithstanding that, being a well-conditioned creature of habit, how hard is it to not shake hands when you meet someone. I am accepting the wisdom of the statement that you cannot teach an old dog new tricks (at least in greeting people – I can now zoom which is a skill that I did not previously have).
As we move forward with relaxing some of the restrictions, it is intriguing watching the variations between the States but one thing is certain – it is important for Governments to do the right thing and get us back to a new ‘normal’ – whatever that looks like.
We know that football is back – without real crowds but with ‘canned’ noise. I wait to see how often the football is sterilised during the game. I see that basketball will no longer have the ‘tip off’ but captains will play ‘rock, paper scissors’ to determine who controls the ball first. You could have always tossed the coin but clearly that was deemed inappropriate.
Will there be a night grand final – this should occupy the media for the next few months.
My view is to take each day as it comes and focus on the important things and be thankful that we are living in Australia – clearly one of the best countries in the world no matter what.
As we are about to enter winter, stay warm and active and look forward to whatever happens.
Take care,
Stuart Shaw, General Manager