By Simon Schofield
We can’t sugar coat it. It’s been another tough year riding out this pandemic together. Life has not yet returned to normal as hoped. The trials and tribulations of this unique moment in history are well-documented. Our great problem-solving skills are why we are among the most resilient creatures on the planet, thriving in Arctic tundras, arid deserts, and tropical rainforests. However, when you wield the hammer of problem-solving, every issue looks like a problematic nail. We are primed not to notice as much when things are going well than when they are deteriorating and require attention.
However, if you cease looking for problems to solve for a moment, you will notice people going out of their way to solve problems for others. Since the dawn of the pandemic, I have come to know my neighbours better. Whilst we would exchange awkward pleasantries before lockdown, now we take the time to ask each other how we are doing and do small things to make life easier – getting a spare key cut for the communal door, helping take shopping to an ill relative, or just stopping to chat and offer some support. I have noticed this online, where Facebook groups and Twitter feeds have sprung up for local people to ask for and offer help to one another.
The Covid outbreak has foisted a multitude of inconveniences on us all and exposed some of the less flattering facets of human nature. However, it has also unleashed a spirit of generosity that had hitherto been dormant. This is the essence of what David Cameron called ‘the Big Society’. It may have been communicated somewhat ambiguously, and the cynics poured a surprising degree of scorn on the policy, but it is something many of us do instinctively. The Government has spent unprecedented amounts of taxpayers’ money on the Covid response, providing vaccines, grants, and emergency supplies. However, in the spirit of the Big Society, we haven’t all just sat back and let the Government do all the work. What we can do for ourselves and each other, we have.
The pay-off for doing this is that we build something that a bureaucratic government struggles to create: community. A hackneyed buzzword it may be, and many find it increasingly boring. It’s treated like free marshmallows – nice to have and cheap to give away, but lacking substance, and easily forgotten. However, the meaning of community is deeper than platitudes, it is human connection, the stuff that truly makes life feel meaningful. It’s the difference between a supermarket where every customer is treated like just another person looking to scan their items, touch their card and leave before they’re forced to make eye contact with a stranger, and a place where John from round the corner comes to buy sweets to reward his son for achieving an award in class, or where Jane from down the road comes to buy a newspaper to read to her ailing mother. That difference is everything, and it’s something we can all decide to build for ourselves and each other every day.
At Centric, our mission is to give a voice and a platform to people and perspectives that often go unheard. We believe not only in diversity of people, but diversity of ideas. It is only in a free market of ideas that we can sort what works to open doors of opportunity for everyone, and what is old hat that needs to be consigned to the wastebin.
Christmas, whether you celebrate or not, offers a chance to reflect on the year, reconnect with those we love, and recharge our batteries. However, there are people out there for whom it is an incredibly hard time, who often go unnoticed by those around them. Some people will be forced to isolate this Christmas, away from their friends and family, having tested positive for Covid-19. In the spirit of both our mission and the Big Society, please keep an eye out for opportunities to serve your community. Ask your neighbour how they are coping, even if you don’t normally talk to them. Ring that friend who hasn’t been doing so well lately. Join your local community page and see if there is anything you have, but don’t need or use, that might make life easier for someone else. It’s not an original idea, but it’s needed now more than ever as we amble into the third year of the pandemic, blinking into the light (which might be the end of a tunnel, or a harbinger of hardship), and anticipating what ups and downs 2022 will bring. To all our readers, thank you for your support in 2021. We hope you have a restful and enjoyable Christmas, a very Happy New Year, and a bright and prosperous 2022.