By Cormac Culkeen
A very good morning, afternoon, or evening folks, whenever you happen to read this. As I write this it’s a beautiful sunny day. The sky is an expanse of bright blue, and white clouds gather and curl in the distance. Sparrows and finches dart in and out of the feeder that I have hung on the balcony. It feels like the heel is off our collective throat. The evenings have brightened ever so slightly. You can taste spring in the air, feel a slowly growing charge as the land starts to wake up, the lovely moist smell of fresh clay. The breezes have gotten warmer and bring the scent of greenery, faint as a murmur. All is well with the world.
Until I flick on the news that is, and I see our so called ‘leaders’ spraying their word ecoli everywhere, seriously messing the place up. I’m generally not one for political screeds, but surely we could have done better than a Taoiseach who comes across like a sweaty lawyer whose only client is a sheep? Worse, we have a Minister for Health who looks and sounds like a Bond villain dreamt up by a committee at the Mr. Price shareholders meeting. Is it so hard to have a coherent policy on a programme for vaccination and public health, not one that seems to have been written on the back of a shebeen beermat after the puke has been wiped off it?
Most of Europe and Britain are getting their act together, but there are Sult regulars who’d make a better fist of things than the gabbling, pass the parcel coop that is Leinster House. Anyway, rant and spewage of bile over. Sorry about that. It’s just bloody frustrating and enraging to see such ineptitude in attempts at getting life back to some semblance of normality, and I’m sure many of you feel exactly the same.
I hope that you’re all happy, healthy and mobile and that you’re all making as good a life as you can at the moment. We’re all missing the routine and interactions that make college life so enjoyable, and hopefully we’ll all be able to avail of it soon. Look to the changing seasons and the fact that we won’t feel so entrapped, believe me being able to walk in the sunshine and watch the world in its dance around you is one of life’s simple, unalloyed pleasures. Take it all in. Read a book. Listen to music. Buy a newspaper. Make yourself an enjoyable sandwich. Dance. Watch a good series (I seriously recommend ZeroZeroZero) or a movie. Try something new, in whatever limited means you can. I guess what I’m trying to say is keep your space as open as you can. Grab any positive, no matter how small. Most important of all: Be kind to each other. Stay in touch with your friends and offer help and support where you can. Keep the heads up and stay contrary.
