1.5 Meters Apart, Please!
Thomas | Canley Vale High school (2020)
The cycle always seems to repeat itself. Most of us thought this would be the way the world ends. Not with a bang, but with a whimper. The 31st of March silenced the streets, emptied the stores but more importantly, confined the people. Like the men who felt stuffed and hollow, we were more or less, emotionally the same. Isolated within the walls that used to provide us comfort, now only suffocated us. We had taken 2019 for granted, and now simply yearn for the normalcy of life. Struggling behind the panels of light, the terrible latency and lagging images of our beloved teachers, our fingers are no longer clasping pens but instead, tapping away at the keys. Is this, humanity’s new beginning? No! Surely not!
Historically, humanity has had a relatively good run adapting to the inevitable. It was during the height of the Black Death in the 14th century, the citizens of Venice realised the infected had stemmed from ships. And their line of defence? Self-isolation. Coronavirus had similar plans, throwing the boomerang of the 1400’s back into the 21st century. In its most extreme cases of isolation, it was felt by those stranded upon The Ruby Princess. And in the reverse case, the thousands who didn’t understand the crucial need for “social-distance” made the most of Sydney’s glorious Indian summer along our beaches. Let’s not forget the fatigued resignations of those who scouried the emptied shelves of household essentials. Never before has toilet paper, pasta or rice been intently watched as if it was the stock market. Be sure not to blink, because such items will literally dissipate in a matter of seconds.
Ironically enough, we’re considered lucky. As ScoMo puts it, we’re the ‘gold standard’. Travel further south and you’ll find land untouched by the great Australian sun. Melbourne’s atmosphere has become bleak and unnerving. An empty city is a lonely city that needs its people. The usually bustling alleyways in its CBD lie mute, as it waits for the stage four restrictions to pass. It’s architectural landscapes have fallen silent, losing its vitality as they transform into relics of a former human civilisation. As the virus winds its tentacles through and through, we’ve become funnily unified by the ‘face mask’ - a symbol of our collective efforts to suppress COVID-19. Akin to the plague doctors of the 19th century with beak-like masks, it represents solidarity fostered through struggle and death. .
The narrative today shares striking resemblance with those belonging to the past. The most visceral signs of Australia’s economy in free-fall came in late March, with the tragic queues of people waiting outside Centrelink offices across the country. While many collapsed under financial strain, others were forced onto the streets, echoing the scenes from the Great Depression of the early 1900’s.
Perhaps it's how the Irish playwright, George Shaw questions it, “How incapable must Man be of learning from experience?”. So when we think humanity has turned its final pages upon a chapter, the trend always seems to repeat...
And yet again, we’ve become like peasants. Eat Bread. Avoid plague. Revolt.
