Will niceness be as catching as Covid 19?

Not a single one of us could ever have been prepared for the events of the past few weeks. Nothing could have equipped us for the fear, confusion and real hardship that has befallen friends, colleagues and loved ones and I have no intention of playing that down.

Of course, we’ve seen the worst side of society and how it reacts when threatened. The urge to do anything to protect one’s family is an understandable basic instinct, but it will be a cold day in hell when we can excuse pushing over a pensioner for a bag of pasta. But is it just me, or are we starting to see some behaviour beginning to present itself that gives a glimmer of hope? Maybe there’s a little more to us that the frightened herd presented on the front pages of the newspapers? Might being nice actually prove to be as contagious as the virus doing its damnedest to destroy our society?

At the outset of the lock-down, chaos and selfishness were predicted, and some of us did little to disappoint. My cousin, a police officer, casually informed me that the Met are expecting food riots. A visit to Tesco started to look like a scene for “Shaun of the Dead”. Shelves were empty and people looked frightened. My mum cried during our daily phone call because she had no eggs. They always have eggs.

However, what was driving us apart seems to be starting to bring us together on a slightly different level. My parents’ neighbours one by one offered to shop for them. To their shame they now have thirty six eggs. Meringue, anyone? Despite the pressures being put on the company and our staff, we’ve found time to talk to friends and family more than we ever have before. Colleagues have responded to some real challenges with total positivity: offering help, reassuring us that they are behind us - and not just to nick the loo roll. Yes, faces in supermarkets are still pinched and scared, but people are offering reassuring smiles and saying “take care”.

Maybe it’s because this is happening to us all. Maybe feeling helpless has made us want to take care of each other a little better. Of course we are indeed herd animals, but maybe that’s what will get us through. The herd protects the young, the old and the weak. It comes together in adversity. Maybe it’s taken something like this to remind us just what we are. And maybe, when this is all over, new ideals will shape our behaviour that prize those qualities just as much as we previously admired tenacity, power and success. That’s one pandemic we could all do with spreading.