Yelling at your neighbours

Every day new cases of Covid 19 crop up and every day calls on our reserves of energy. It’s so easy to get into the ‘should’ mindset these days.  No question, there are things we all should be doing: following the instructions given by those who know about epidemics, washing our hands, checking in with each other, and ignoring the folks who tell us that 5 G networks are causing the corona virus outbreaks. I’m not talking about that kind of should.  I’m talking about the ‘shoulds’ we tell ourselves: I should clean out the garage, go through my filing cabinet, get at the mound of mending sitting beside the sewing machine. There are bigger ‘shoulds’ that nag us even more: I should volunteer at the food bank; I should be doing more. We are all, as I read in an article the other day, feeling a bit ‘wobbly.’ There is no one way to do what is best. We do what we can and what we have energy to do. and that looks different for each of us.

            People and organizations are reaching out in many different ways to help make this experience manageable. Museums are offering virtual tours. People are posting amusing videos as never before and local restaurants are offering lower prices on curbside pickup orders. Musicians whose gigs have been cancelled are posting their music online.  Today I watched a kitchen party from various places in Nova Scotia.  Someone took footage from each contributor and edited it so people made music together while remaining apart.

            People are finding ways to connect by doing small things for each other. We had dinner with friends using Skype the other night. We laughed and chatted and commented on each other’s menus. It was a ton of fun and nobody had to drive anywhere.  We’re going to do that again. Children are making art on the sidewalks and people are posting drawings and cut-outs on their windows to give their neighbours something cheery to look at and, perhaps, to look forward to when they are out walking.

In the last few days I have noticed another phenomenon that seems to be gaining in popularity: yelling at your neighbours.  When I’ve been out walking, I’ve noticed people having conversations loudly from quite a distance away. I’ve been involved in a few of these myself. It may not be as elegant as Italians singing to each other from their balconies, but it will keep the vocal cords in shape so that Canadians, who are of such a mind, will be able to go right back to yelling during hockey games when hockey can be played again. It’s not subtle communication and there’s a kind of naughty freedom to carrying on a conversation at the top of one’s voice. So, let’s keep opening our doors and yelling at each other across lawns and from front steps and sidewalks. As long as there is good humour and kindness in the yelling, I’m all for it.