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With the pubs set to reopen tomorrow and place our health workers under increasing strain, I think back to the clapping charade...
With the pubs set to reopen tomorrow and place our health workers under increasing strain, I think back to the clapping charade...
When the pandemic was beginning to take hold, we all understood that our tireless health workers were being put under immense pressure. This made our brains feel bad.
There was an imbalance. A deficit. We 'owed' the NHS because they were sacrificing so much for our benefit.
When we experience a debt like this, our brain works hard to resolve it. We want to establish a mental equilibrium whereby the debt has been paid.
Hence clapping - a largely inconsequential gesture which allowed our collective grey matter to pay off our outstanding debt to the real heroes by fooling us into thinking we've contributed.
What's the moral of this thread? Don't trick yourself into thinking you're part of the solution unless you're actively helping to reduce health service strain.
Wear a mask, don't mix with public unless it's necessary, and don't go to the fucking pub tomorrow.
(Ps - I know the clapping was probably nice for health workers to understand they're valued, but it was something of a mental placebo)
Disclaimer - I'm no expert, so this view is open to challenge.
