Happy Birthday Twice

Boris Johnson apparently told the British to wash their hands frequently, rubbing that soap in for as long as it takes to sing Happy Birthday twice.  Winston Churchill is remembered for his stirring "We shall never surrender" statement.  Our Boris will go down in history for his "Happy Birthday twice" statement. 

Without being too flippant, what our present pandemic crisis shows very clearly is that our world has an ongoing crisis of political leadership which is now never so poignant as at this time.  There is no Winston Churchill to stir us up, and we sure need one.  All we hear is about doom and gloom on the economic front.  This crisis is about more than economics.  It is about humanity; it is about who we are individually and together; it is about spirituality, about who are in solidarity with God and each other.  Meanwhile women are fighting over toilet paper in some store in Australia. 

We must never lose sight of our human solidarity in the face of a shared crisis which is not about a Chinese virus, a refugee virus, nor a foreign virus but simply this is a human crisis.

Here the Health Minister is blaming the virus on foreigners, specifically westerners for being dirty and arrogant.  This theme feeds into a human mindset geared towards discrimination.  It is an easy cop-out to lay blame.  Whatever may be said, such a narrative is unhelpful for the common good, a key value in the midst of any crisis. 

This week, I am being a bit all over the place.  Maybe that is a result of the immediate pressures of the time.  Still as I read back, I see the themes arising in my own reflecting on the state of my Bangkok and our world.  What the world needs now is
good leadership;
decent sense of  humanity;
nourishing spirituality; 
and not named, but ever essential, a lot of love and a ripper of a sense of humour.