Dear Yuri,
I’m of the age that remembers your ventures into the void, and I celebrated them. And here I now am in another void which is not if my choosing. Yet this feels like an adventure, one that has taken me deeper into myself, a journey of discovery. Four weeks into lock down I’m both sorry my life has been disrupted and delighted that at last we can really consider the damage we’ve inflicted on our fragile planet. I love the bird chorus at dawn, the air I gulp on my early morning run, the quiet streets I cycle for an hour each day, the technology that reminds me I’m deeply connected even though isolated. So my message to ground control is this: Dear government: pause, consider, change direction, reward the people who really contribute to our health and well-being and prevent hedge fund managers and the like being able to make thousands by betting on the outcome of major political events.
Consider the unnecessary journeys we make in cars and planes. Reward those who invest in alternative technologies and resist the lure of cheap flights and make those who don’t, pay the real costs. Break free from fossil fuel companies funding social projects and tax those companies and individuals more. Help us maintain the community structures supporting the vulnerable and ensure a fairer society. Forgo your additional pay for disruption over the next few weeks. Take a pay cut while the economy is in free fall. Thousands have died. Let’s honour them by resisting the pressures of returning to the values that have brought us here. I’ve discovered dormant aspects of myself while in this space the power of which I won’t neglect. To self-awareness and beyond!