Wait, have we all become…..nice?

It’s hard to get one’s head around the extent to which our lives have changed over the past few months. 

Things that might have driven us wild a matter of weeks ago suddenly don’t seem very important.

Brexit was under constant discussion in 2019 and politicians’ views were divided. Lke the children of squabbling parents we Brits became mulish, discontented and angry. And shockingly, death threats to politicians became increasingly common.

But those death threats seem to have declined along with the threat of actual death. Now that we’ve all been confronted by a common enemy we seem to have become – well, nicer.

People are clamouring to do each other’s shopping and provide help and support where they can. Children are being encouraged to paint rainbow pictures and display these in windows as colourful beacons of hope. 

Signs and messages congratulating the NHS for their invaluable work are becoming common, and we’re also beginning to see coloured-in posters thanking other key workers such as postmen and refuse collectors. On one of our walks we recently came across hopscotch chalk-marks on pavements interspersed with hearts in which the words “police” and “bin men” had been drawn. 

And of course, every Thursday we emerge into the street to applaud our carers.

Sadly, we didn’t always value our NHS the way we do now. A report out in January revealed that violent attacks in health and social care outnumbered those in any other industry by three to one. And it emerged that three members of NHS staff had been killed by patients over the past five years.

When life was relatively easy we complained about everything. But now that we’re all stuck inside in a near-apocalyptical situation, we see positivity everywhere. Few people are griping about their lot: instead they’re saying things like: “I’m lucky: At least I have a job/garden/balcony/someone to lock down with”.

All we needed was something big to happen for everything to click into focus. Let’s hope some of this niceness spills over into real life when we return to it. I’m designing thank-you posters for traffic wardens as we speak.