Tornado Project

Yes

Fortunate, Appreciative, and Hopeful

Jay Menard

June 24, 2020

Very well, thanks for asking. In fact, I've often felt guilty about how I've only felt slightly inconvenienced by this pandemic response in comparison to others. I'm also extremely and overwhelmingly appreciative of my good fortune.

My wife, Melony. And, of course, our cat, Penny.

Obviously, we've missed the little things we enjoyed doing pre-COVID. For example, my wife and I love taking day trips, driving to different parts of the province, and exploring. We love going into little shops, meeting new people, and experiencing local culture and history. All of that has changed. We also missed our regular connections with friends and family -- whether that's a trivia night at a bar or spending time with our parents, those are missed.

Instead, we've made a point to get together virtually with people through Zoom calls. We've also re-embraced cooking, as opposed to taking the easy way out. Our lives were incredibly busy before (between work, volunteer work, committee work...) so it became easy to just grab a dinner out between meetings. Now, I'm able to indulge in cooking a little more, which I love. And we're probably eating better because of it.

Honestly, it hasn't affected my work very much at all. In fact, it's forced us to be more innovative and creative, which will only serve to help when the pandemic passes. My job involves a lot of meetings, facilitation of discussions, and travel to clients. This pandemic has changed how those interactions happen. However, the results still need to be there -- using technology to bridge the gap and trying to find ways to compensate for the lack of in-person has been a challenge.

And my commute is much quicker. Instead of a 15-minute walk to work, I have a one-minute walk to the spare room.

My wife has had a more challenging time as she works in higher education. So while I have the luxury of maintaining a routine, she's had to work harder to find things to occupy her time.

Careless use of language and lack of clarity. Early on, there was a movement amongst many to change the clear term "social distancing" to "physical distancing and social cohesion." As a word guy who specializes in clarity, this was not only offensive, but dangerous. In a pandemic, our response should have been to be as clear as possible -- and people get social distancing. The encouragement of the use of "cohesion" (in part by our officer of health and in part by some self-appointed community leaders) put people at risk for no other reason than ego gratification.

Also the lack of clarity and arrogance regarding social distancing by our leadership has been frustrating. Our medical officer of health recently Tweeted that as part of our phase two re-entry, that "hugging" grandparents is OK. He doubled down on that statement despite several people calling into question that advice -- and wondering if the three months of no physical contact was ever needed. Only after a few hours did he reverse course. That type of careless Tweeting and flippant response is dangerous.

Finally, as we enter the re-entry part of our COVID journey, I'm appalled at how little consideration is given to accessible needs. As Chair of the accessibility advisory board, I may be biased, but when I see major back-to-work decisions taken by the City without even reaching out to the only legally mandated committee -- and questionable moves like blocking a lane of traffic to allow for increased store frontage/patios and shared lanes for cyclists and pedestrians (again, without consultation, because people with visual disabilities and wheelchairs will be disproportionately impacted by new impediments on the sidewalk -- not to mention having to navigate curbs and differences in elevation to get to the street), I am concerned that our societal ableism is rearing its head again and we are narrowly defining who can fully participate in our community.

Fortunately, no. And I hope to keep it this way.

I believe our government is trying to do its best. I have some concerns at all levels (from the Liberal arrogance of trying to execute a power grab [extending its power well past the expected pandemic date] as a minority government as part of its initial relief efforts, to the Conservative hypocrisy of decrying hospital and long-term care failures without acknowledging its own impact due to previous budget cuts, to municipal government's lack of consultation and systemic ableism), but I also believe that everyone's doing their best. I'm disappointed with our local health unit -- and I feel that all four groups are playing politics with public health.

I'm also disappointed with our media coverage. I read all sides, but I'm old-school (I grew up in journalism) in my belief that media should be neutral and just present the facts. Instead, we have right-wing and left-wing media, which present information that's filtered through their own prism. That's not right. I feel I'm media savvy enough to navigate through these biases, but we're seeing the impact of this polarization and selective reporting in our societal response. When mask wearing becomes a political statement, we've lost the battle.

I'm worried about a second wave. I'm not convinced that a vaccine will be developed by the new year, simply because vaccines tend to take years to develop. I hope that there are no unintended side effects or consequences of our rush. I don't know how fast normal life should be restored, nor do I know what normal will be. I freelance in both sports and entertainment writing, but I have no idea when I'll be fully comfortable sitting in a press box or attending a play in a crowd. As to how fast, my answer is always going to be "go with the science." When we have a mechanism that ensures our most vulnerable are safe, then I'll be happy to go back to "normal." Until then, we need to ensure we protect those who can't protect themselves.

I'm hoping we embrace what really matters. As a first-world nation, we spent much of the past few years obsessing over personal micro-aggressions and polarizing our political climate. This pandemic and the BLM movement have shown us that we have real, large-scale societal issues that we need to come together to solve. It's almost as if we needed this to put our lives in perspective. And I hope that we move away from our polarized society, where information is consumed and distributed in silos, to one where we commit to working together and listening to one another so that we can combine our experiences, perspectives, and knowledge for a better whole. No one "side" has a monopoly on "right." It would be great if more people embraced inclusion and respect.

Sadly, this pandemic has brought out the worst in a lot of people. At a time when we should be coming together, our society is taking sides. And while there are signs of hope, the fundamental flaws in our societal discourse are overwhelming. So when we talk about getting back to normal, I'm not sure that's ever where we want to be. Instead, I hope we can create a new normal where we work collaboratively to improve our society and create a societal safety net that's inclusive for all. I'm really not the Kumbaya type, and I firmly believe that people will continue to look out for themselves -- that's just who we are in terms of human nature -- but if there's anything that comes of this, my hope is for a more inclusive, supportive society.

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