Breaking Human Laws

Straddling The UK and Spain; both places we call home, but only in the latter are we legally resident. We arrived in England just before the Dover/Calais chaos and before the ‘new strain’ was identified. We have been very lucky and grateful to see our families at Christmas, but it seems that the sparkle has already worn off as The UK enters its third lockdown.

I don’t check the English or Spanish news very often; it gives me palpitations and sets the merry-go-round racing in my mind. But I am obliged to check the situation when I am trying to get home; whether it be north or south that I am heading. And (apart from the extreme lockdown in Spain last year), I have to say I think that since then, Spain has done a much better job of handling things. But that’s another blog post. One thing I have noticed, however, are the general complaints against ‘the people’.

For example: in Valencia, our home in Spain, more restrictions are brought in every few weeks. This week in Las Provincias, one official stated that it was because people are not following the rules. Similar stories in The UK; we all (except Dominic Cummings) have to follow the rules to get out of this. And then there are the self-righteous on their moral high horses (careful you don’t fall!) exclaiming that they don’t understand why it is so difficult for people to follow the rules and simply stay at home. Let me answer that: it is not difficult. Well, not when you don’t have to choose between heating or eating; not when you have enough space; entertainment and good relationships with those in the same house. A lack of any one of those things could send you over the edge. Look at the big picture, please, if you can see that far from your moral high ground.

But I suppose my real point is this: most of us have trouble following the rules because for almost a year we have been ordered not to behave as human beings. For the majority, it is fairly easy to follow rules such as not thieving perfume from Boots, or not driving in the bus lane, or not murdering someone because their dog has shat outside our door. Driving in the bus lane, pilfering perfumes and murder are not (generally) biological or social urges which we need to engage in to survive. Our mental health is not negatively impacted if we don’t steal or don’t drive in the bus lane or don’t kill someone regularly. But can you say the same about all the things that are increasingly against the rules now?

When visiting your mum becomes illegal; when we are told that socialising could kill people; when all entertainment and fitness venues are closed: we suffer. Humans are social animals. People need people; people need a release. And no matter how much your family and friends might push your buttons, to be separated from them indefinitely is inhumane. Humans cannot follow rules which demand that they stop acting like humans for prolonged, indefinite periods of time. Especially when these demands have been issued through clouds of chaos, contradictions and astounding incompetence.

It is no wonder many of us have been riddled with anxiety over the last year. We are social animals who naturally stay in groups as protection from outside threats and danger. So when the group BECOMES the danger? Our hard-wired biological instincts cannot handle it. We have been divided and conquered into the smallest units. Anxiety and fear are growing as we are ever-more isolated, unable to share our fears, reason with and comfort each other. Not just over a drink in the pub; but in the home of a loved one.

So no, people are not following the rules because people are people. Human beings. You might as well ask a pride of lions to go vegan. Never. Gonna. Happen.

Being Human

“We’ll always have Paris.”

A timeless line from a classic film, Casabalanca. Made in 1942 and released during the Second World War, I find myself thinking of my grandparents, going to the ‘Pictures’ to watch it back when nobody had TVs. They would have been in their early twenties, making do during life in wartime Manchester. 

This year I have found myself thinking of them more than ever. I wonder what they would make of the chaos currently reaching fever pitch in The UK; how they would be responding to Boris-Village-Idiot-Johnson’s erratic whims. As the pandemic grinds on and we succumb to fatigue, I remind myself to think of the hardships and emotional anguish that those generations suffered during the war. Living through this pandemic, it is easy to draw parallels with the World Wars. The uncertainty; the disruption of daily life; the border closures and inconvenience surrounding travel and movement. However, there are vast differences too.

For one, my grandparents’ generation endured rationing; shortages; air raids; not to mention the knowledge that death could happen at any moment. Saying toodlepip to a loved one as they popped out to the shop could very well be the last time you saw them alive, should bombs happen to fall in the interim. During the Wars there was a very real, definite enemy. People united to fight off the threat of invasion and occupation. During this pandemic, it all feels rather abstract. People are very literally divided; into tiers/regions and even their households. This is the greatest difference and what makes current daily life so different to life in wartime Britain: the isolation.

During the war there was undoubtedly stress, fear and trauma, but at least people had each other. They could pop to their neighbour’s or their parents’ house for a cup or tea, or simply a chat if there was no tea left. They could have a moan, a cry, a hug, a laugh; share their worries and support each other. We cannot. We have been told that visiting our loved ones puts them at risk. We have been told not to hug or touch or even sit next to each other. We have been separated from our loved ones and prohibited from behaving like human beings for almost a year now. I am not sure how much longer humans can tolerate this. 

Yes, Coronavirus is a strain on the health service. But what about people’s mental health? Their livelihoods? The long-term consequences of lockdowns and continued isolation will be far further reaching and dire than the short-term threat of contagion. Depression, anxiety, eating disorders, self-harm and OCD (to name a few) cannot be prevented nor cured with a vaccine. These are just as real as Coronavirus, and on the increase since the start of the pandemic.

So, while a wartime Christmas would have been a lean feast, unless people were away in the forces, at least they would have been able to share the joy of simply being together for the festive season. Separation from loved ones living nearby was not something my grandparents would ever have had to endure.