30 People differ most from those to whom they are closest
It’s been tough for a lot of people, having to stay at home, when home isn’t a safe or happy place. Domestic violence has been inescapable; victims of abuse have had far fewer places to hide. Those are issues of justice at any time, and it is horrible to think of the added suffering that some have undergone while the rest of us were ‘just’ dealing with the pandemic itself.
I’d like to focus mostly though on those of us who aren’t in such horrendous situations, but have also found ourselves spending more time with those with whom we are in the same household – for most of us, our nearest and dearest. For many, everything’s been just fine, but for some, relationships have come under real strain, even to breaking point.
I am one of the lucky ones, but that doesn’t give me a right to criticise those for whom things have been tough. On the contrary, it places an obligation on me to offer what help I can to those who have found their relationships under an unexpected strain. Those who have found themselves cast adrift from the relationships which were up to then their main support, need the rest of us all the more.
It’s hard work, reaching out when you feel as if you’re working as hard as you can just to keep yourself together. But if we are to rebuild community where it has been damaged that’s exactly what we need to do, as much as we can.