The Side Effect……..
For a lot of us, the excitement and enthusiasm would have been palpable as we stepped out of our formal education and onto our very own hamster wheel. Our goals and aspirations were clearly in sight as we set off, easy at first while we found our feet and then happily we broke into a jog and trotted off into a time warp.
Now, very suddenly we’re in our thirties, forties, fifties and the wheel is moving so fast that life outside of it passes in a blur. Someone else’s goals have become ours, but that fact seems lost on us, while all that’s important must wait until we have time; until we’re not so tired or stressed or until our mind and body can be in the same place at the same time. We’re spread so thin that nobody ever really gets enough, but that’s life. We’re all burning out at the same rate and it’s completely normal. Right?
Right. Until … unbelievably, the world is put on pause.
The wheels stop spinning and we’re all told to get off. We take a step back and see our own little world as we never have. We worry about what will happen. Will we be alright? How will we all get by?
But as everything we need continues to be delivered to our doorstep, it slowly starts to dawn on us … this is it. This could be the one and only time in our lives when we can slow down and be rebelliously un-productive. Sure, the billionaires of the world will shout that everything’s fine! One even tells us to inject ourselves with disinfectant; such is their need for us to be exactly where we’ve always been – dedicating our lives to making them more money.
But we’re sorry, Sir, we can’t. We’re busy baking the worst buns you’ve ever seen with our kids, (practice makes perfect, eh?) Plus, we’ve been meeting our neighbours over the past few weeks, some for the first time and they’ll be passing on their family cycle in a while. We’ll be having a chat from a polite distance out on the street. A few more families will probably pass by as well. They all live nearby, but we’ve only just met. They’ll be walking their dogs, jogging, kicking a ball between them and they’ll stop too. Why wouldn’t they? We finally all have something in common. We’re living through history. It’s the conversation of a lifetime and everyone is in on it…
It’s not long before we’re living a new, revolutionary lifestyle. One where we finally applaud those who really keep the world turning and family time has returned to its rightful place at the top of the pyramid. We read, we cook, we talk, we play. Kids get to have their parents present in their lives, while the rest of us have stopped taking the vulnerable people in our lives for granted. We’re taking the time to check on our neighbours and help other people wherever we can. We’re no longer too busy to care. Games night has become a thing. Sure, it’s on-screen, but more friends and family members are present than ever before. All this as a side effect of a world in crisis.
So now that we have a new normal, what will happen when the wheels start spinning again, easy at first? How long before we’re once again spinning out of control? The bankers and billionaires will ensure that we all fall back into line. If we don’t, they’ll take away our homes and our lives as we know it, but we’ll never forget that once upon a time, nobody knew for sure what day it was, or if the birds were always this loud. But like it or not, everyone came to know our natural hair colour.
“For it’s the end of history
It’s caged and frozen still
There is no other pill to take
So swallow the one that makes you ill”
Rage Against The Machine,”Sleep Now In The Fire
Michelle Dunne was one of those sporty types growing up, all bony elbows and knees, and as she lived on an island, it stood to reason she’d spend her first couple of decades taking in the salty, seaweedy air at the local rowing club (not the serene looking, posh rowing, but the other kind, undertaken by hardy fishermen).
This was where she learned just about everything she ever needed to know about anything. They brought home the County’s, All-Ireland’s were won, but the banter on the bus was always the real prize. From there it made sense that she’d leave town and join another club/asylum and found herself wearing a blue helmet somewhere in South Lebanon.
She’d become attached to the UN, but more importantly, to B-Company, the boldest, brightest, bravest the Irish army had to offer. She called them lots of other names too, but only to their faces. As tracer rounds lit up the sky above her and artillery rained down, she learned the words of every patriotic Irish song ever written and how to smile, laugh, and joke about things that would otherwise have you curled in a ball, rocking back and forth in the corner of the room.
Once her eyes had been opened and she returned to Irish soil, Michelle was promoted and following a spell back at college, is now a part of a company providing physiotherapy and staff training in nursing homes and hospitals all over Munster. A slower pace, but still an unruly bunch when they want to be. She’s back living on the island of Cobh with her husband Dominic and their daughter Emily and the hundreds of colourful characters waiting to make their way onto a piece of paper.
Pat Carroll,The Silence 