I Wish

  Can you imagine what life will be like when this pandemic is all over? I hope it doesn't go back to "normal" because that wasn't working for a lot of people. I've got my fingers crossed that we will shift to a new idea of normal and that the entire country remembers who kept us going through these unprecedented weeks and months.

  I hope people, including the government, will remember that they gave workers $2000 a month to survive. Many workers don't make that much working full time. Where did this dollar figure come from? If that is the minimum needed to get by in a month don't we owe it to those who are surviving on less to top them up to at least this amount? Those on social services and disability should get that too right? Grocery store clerks and personal care workers in nursing homes deserve that much too, wouldn't they? Seniors with only OAS and the Supplement don't come close to that number. What about them? See what I mean about normal not being that great?

  Doctors need help. We as a country need to recruit them in new and inventive ways. You want to go to university and become a doctor? Well sign this little contract a la Northern Exposure and your student loans are gone. Give us 10 or 15 years of treating locals and we will give you a house to live in and a car to drive. Hell we will throw in a yearly vacation if that's what it takes. But we need more doctors...right now.

  Never again can we rely on other countries when it comes to our healthcare supplies. We should all be proud of how so many Canadian companies stepped up and changed their manufacturing to gowns, masks, and shields. Most without being asked to do so. Maybe every so often they need to do this and replenish our stockpiles so we never get caught with our pants down again. At the mercy of other countries who are going through the exact same shortages as we are. No nurse in an ER cares that the face shield protecting her says Bauer across the top. Let's look at being self-sufficient in this one important area. 

  Let's stop calling some workers "unskilled" and agree that they deserve respect and a living wage. We need to stop looking down our noses at those who are front line workers without any of the benefits the name usually brings. We've all realized how totally screwed we would be without grocery clerks, delivery drivers, garbage collectors, etc. They are doing a job that gets no respect but keeps us all going. 

  One thing we've all seen first hand is how we are too busy most of the time. Yes our kids are nightmares most of the time, but when we all play a board game or have pizza on the floor before watching a movie, you can see they are making memories. Many of us are calling elderly parents and relatives daily to make sure they are okay. The conversation naturally changes to "Do you remember when..." or "Whatever happened to..." and we take a trip down memory lane. We have time for the people we cherish and miss. That would be a fantastic thing to have as "normal".

  I wish many changes after all this is said and done. That we finally understand what is important in life and stop wasting our valuable time on those that don't.  We owe it to the 147,512 people worldwide who have died so far and sadly to those yet to come.

  Stay safe. Stay home.

  Ang