A chara, – The relentless criticism daily, largely driven by the broadcast media, of how we are dealing with the Covid crisis, is depressing.
Of course we need robust interrogation of how it is being managed, but why is the coverage almost unfailingly negative in its approach? We as a nation, have been well looked after overall. Hospitals took on an enormous burden of extra work and resources, testing was ramped up, vaccines were rolled out and doctors and others in the health service worked indefatigably on our behalf.
The Government too made hard decisions and generally made them for the right reasons, ie, in the best interests of the people.
Of course there have been glitches; anyone who has organised as much an event in a town hall will know that things go wrong, the equipment doesn’t do what it was meant to do, the IT goes down, the chairs don’t get delivered, the catering turns out to be a disaster and it rains on the day. This Covid crisis has been nationwide and on all possible fronts and systems, yet still we hear constant carping and criticism and little acknowledgement of the positives.
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A few years ago I did a short stint as a volunteer in Africa. On arrival I was amazed at seeing the number of young male amputees begging at the airport. I subsequently learned that they wouldn’t have had access to antibiotics after an injury. They would have happily queued for medicine, taken glitches and setbacks as part of life and above all would have been tremendously relieved and appreciative of the care they’d received.
Our first world status has understandably raised our expectations about many things but let us at least recognise our good fortune.
– Le meas,
MARY MAC DONALD,
Templeogue, Dublin 6W.