But this is just the start – where we continue this and – to use the Government phrase – “ramp it up” after lockdown – to make it ‘normal’.
There was a person who went on a journey along a road. As they went they saw another who was head-down, reading the latest news on their phone. Their path meandered as the lamppost came into their view, and they carefully dodged the impending impact.
if only it faced the other way!
I crossed the road to avoid them.
Another person popped their head out of their door, gazing left and right. They took time for a ciggie, a breath of fresh air as they stood on their door step.
LensCulture Street Photography Awards 2018.
I crossed the road, silently, to ensure my 6 foot separation.
Another person, heavily laden with shopping: pasta, flour and toilet rolls, pottered along the road. They shifted the bags from one hand to the other, had a quick breather, and then started again.
I crossed the road to give them space.
It sounds familiar, now, but also from the past. It’s akin to the Good Samaritan parable (Luke 10:25-37), brought up to date perhaps.
From the person suffering from leprosy everyone would avoid. From the homeless individual languishing in a doorway, people ‘giving them space‘ – ‘them’ or ‘us’?
Yes, we need to give that social distancing separation currently, but may it sink deep into our hearts that compassion and kindness are still permitted. And more so in the future.
We can greet people along the road, chat to people over a garden fence – even if we didn’t initially know them, and offer people help through donations, taking food and medications to their home.
But this is just the start – where we continue this and – to use the Government phrase – “ramp it up” after lockdown – to make it ‘normal’.