Don’t stand so close to me
In 1980 The Police (well, actually Sting) said “don’t stand so close to me” - in 2020 it looks like it will be the actual police (no capitalisation) who will be saying the same thing. Social Distancing and Self Isolation is going to be (is currently) a huge challenge for us human beings.
We are a social species, it’s out nature. Perhaps part of the rapid spread of the Covid-19 virus is our social nature. Even in the face of the rampant spread, countries in lockdown and thousands of deaths, many of us are continuing to ‘stay calm and carry on’. Despite the best advice of the government and scientists. But I’m not going to lecture about any of that. (But, yeah - stay home okay).
I’m a huge fan of the book ‘Be a free-range human’ by Marianne Cantwell - and in a blog post from last week she talked about the importance of words and their implications, meanings and the emotions they create. In particular ‘social distancing’. It’s a really scary concept for a social species. What we really need to do right now is physical distancing. It’s the same, but different. We need to remain connected socially, perhaps more than ever, but at arms-length okay? I think it would be much easier for us all to cope with the concept of being isolated if we accepted that it’s just physical distancing that we need to adhere to. We need social nearness and social connection, it’s going to be virtual, for a while. We’ve got phones, video, VR and AR. We could even write a flipping letter. We’ve got all the platforms we need, youtube, instagram, facebook, linked-in and so on.
You can see with the way the Italians and French are coping right now with the need to remain socially connected whilst remaining physically distanced. It’s okay, we can do it, and just for a little while. It also means for those of us lucky enough to work from home and have a family - that we can build and strengthen the bond of our family unit. I’m looking forward to playing Dungeons and Dragons with my family this weekend (and they are dreading it). It’s a chance to re-connect, find new ways to connect and share.
So, that’s the message, physically distance yourselves, please. Remain socially connected and find ways to create new connections. We ARE social animals and need each other. Just without with touchy-feely for a while.
Be kind to each other.
Steve.
