14 April 2022

 

I am on the cusp of a five night, four day long weekend.  Most Anglo societies have a minimum number of public holidays in a calendar year. So with the full moon on Easter Sunday, this is a special time indeed.

The seeming endless barage of rainy weather has taken a hiatus as well.  The parade of congested traffic heading down the NSW South Coast has reemerged after two years.

The further removal of restrictions on air travel has seen Melbourne and Sydney Airports swamped with long queues for most of the past week.  Still, travel is tinged with uncertainty, Covid testing, compulsory insurance and ever changing details of rules.

The economy is springing back as pent up demand and spending has manifested itself.  Yet the mostly unspoken monster at the party is still swirling around in the community, dismissed by the promise of more booster vaccinations, veiled by self testing results and
downplayed by the authorities.

This year, the arrival of Catholic and Protestant Easter has not been accompanied by more nippy evenings, with daytime temperatures still clinging to that of summer days.  Orthodox Easter in 2022 falls on the weekend before ANZAC Day in New Zealand and Australia.  April has festivals of the Hindu New Year, Thai Songkran, the Chinese Tomb Sweeping Day, the end of Cherry Blossom viewing in Japan, the Jewish Passover and the Muslim Ramadan.

So the Earth keeps on spinning. Supply chains are under stress, globalisation has faced challenges from the latest pandemic and inflation has spiked.

Polarisation in politics has increased.   Information, hype, data and truth are getting murky.  Transparency has dipped, but corruption, division and manipulation have increased.  Are there more aggressive governments?   Are human societies thriving on what separates them instead of cherishing common and shared values?

Yet the story and saga of human beings continue.  Do we see an awakening of the individual mindset grow, instead of blindly following commandments?  Do we see grassroots community and individuals organising themselves, when those who govern us take more care of their selfish interests?  Do we sense a rising level of resilience in ourselves?

#yongkevthoughts

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