Covid Depression

By Rajitha Ratwatte

fromoutsidethepearl@gmail.com

One look at the headline may leave the reader thinking that this is another diatribe on the economic situation brought about by the pandemic. Although this is one of the biggest issues of current times, economists much more qualified than yours truly have waxed eloquent on the subject and will continue to do so.

I am talking of the emotion of depression and the devastating effects it is having and will continue to have on the human race, exacerbated by the virus. The deaths and bereavements brought about by the virus and understanding the resulting emotions are basic. They are not new, the sadness and the sense of loss. The inability to mourn your loss in the traditional manner or observe the traditional rituals may also be new, and harder to absorb. There are many more “side effects” of this horrible pandemic that need to be analyzed.

In recent times, the human race has become very gregarious and much travelled. At least one trip abroad on holiday not to mention many business trips abroad has become the norm. Most of us have been confined to one country for almost a year now. This is creating a conscious or unconscious travel itch in the subconscious. We are beginning to feel closeted, confined, and more than a little restless. The ongoing and seemingly endless and re-occurring lock downs in some parts of the world don’t help the situation.

Job losses brought about by covid combined with the current retirement ages (much too young) in most countries. Retirement ages calculated when the average life expectancy was around 65 years have not been adjusted to accommodate the additional 20 years that are the expected norm of today. This has resulted in many able-bodied men and women spending many hours in their houses, with nothing much to do. Constant attempts to find a job, with almost a 95% rejection level adds to the erosion of self-confidence and even a sense of uselessness and a feeling of not being able to make a useful contribution to society.

Those who have retained their jobs are finding substantial amounts of money being saved as expensive holidays and even highly overpriced casual expenses on beverages and fast foods have been curtailed by circumstances beyond their control. After ‘investing’ in the requisite amount of precious metals and some stocks, shares, and bonds, they seem to have turned to the real estate market. Maybe, longer periods spent in their houses and the realization that one can actually work from home, have made them look for more salubrious accommodation. Safer countries (based on the way they have handled the pandemic) and even safer states within a country have resulted in migrations and people returning ‘home’ to countries and states forsaken many years ago for economic prosperity. This will result in the aforesaid people with low incomes being pushed out of the “safer” areas, further contributing to their mental anguish. A positive note maybe that people have realized that “money is not everything” and that a quality lifestyle and pleasant surroundings also matter.

Aotearoa, a country that already has an inordinately high suicide rate among its people, will no doubt see a spike. When looking for professions and qualifications, maybe, people should look at psychoanalysis and psychiatry instead of computer-related fields. It sure looks like having a huge demand in the future. Dealing with recorded voices and robotic responses when trying to get service from all contact centres, doesn’t help either. Waiting for hours for a reply with piped music playing the same repetitive noises in your ear only to have a machine give you pre-recorded replies, all add to the frustration of life today.

Have you noticed that people are turning to meditation in a big way? Even the humble Vipassana Meditation that should have been, if it already wasn’t, very much a part of the life of a Sri Lankan Buddhist, now has a huge worldwide following with the number growing at an unbelievable level, daily. Is society moving back into what it was in the ’60s? Ashrams, mysticism, Ganja, and free love? For those of us who live in the past with all the old times seemingly much sweeter and more enjoyable than anything we can envisage for the future, this may be the only hope. On the other hand, the only ashram we may see is an old people’s home!

Vaccinations in their various forms and different brand names seem to be matched by variants of the virus itself. We have a South American variant, An African one, and one originating in the United Kingdom. One encouraging statistic I saw was that infection rates have dropped by 18% since the introduction of the vaccines, worldwide. Here in Aotearoa, we have no vaccines at present. Auckland has just gone into level 3 lockdown, level 4 being the highest, and the rest of the country into level 2 as a family of 4 with the mother working in an aviation service company diagnosed with Covid19. This company cleans the uniforms of aircrew and since the genome testing has shown no connection to any passenger coming through on managed isolation, the connection maybe to the uniforms, although nothing has been confirmed to date. A child goes to a popular school and they live in South Auckland which is a crowded area of the city. The initial lock down is for three days but it will all depend on how many people are infected and the strain of the virus is now confirmed as the more infective UK variant, the sooner the vaccine comes the more comfortable we will feel. We have just heard that the alert levels are reduced to level 2 in Auckland and Level 1 for the rest of the country. All Schools except the school that is affected will open, this because there have been 2 more cases in that school. The Pearl has done better, and I believe vaccinations have already started.

I have just seen, the Japanese head of the Olympic Games organizing committee forced to resign because of a disparaging comment he made about women. Completely ridiculous in my view and another triumph for the disgusting level that political correctness has taken in our daily lives. Donald Trump walks away scot-free after displaying a level of boorishness and sheer loutishness (new word?) that defies belief. This verdict or lack thereof displayed by the American senate only kowtows to the fact that the louder you are the more you get listened to. The more violent you are, the more people acknowledge your existence. On the other hand draconian punishments could also lead to martyrdom and this decision may result in the Trump culture fizzling out when the mobs realize that they simply need to buckle down and get swallowed up in the rat race! More cause for depression, if you ask me.

Compassion for our fellow beings, the practice of your faith in its purest form, and a firm belief that NOTHING lasts forever, maybe how those who survive these unprecedented times finally make it to the other side.