Only trust can overcome fear, and we are all in this together

Watching the news has never been more difficult.  The world seems to have changed in an instant.  Although only named on February 11, 2020, a mere few weeks ago there is likely no one on the planet who has not heard of COVID 19.  Trying to both understand what is going on and address the ever-increasing level of fear as the numbers increase is tantamount to torture, forcing us to worry every waking moment without any clear understanding of how and when this may end. 

There is one word we hear every day from politicians and medical experts alike – “unprecedented”.  The fear in the population is palpable.  Even though the vast majority of those who contract the virus will recover well, we have no way of knowing if we will fall into the unfortunate minority who will develop severe symptoms or even succumb to the illness.  The advice is to stay home and not go out.  Even though we would expect that sheltering in place would not be that hard, it turns out to be extremely difficult, and that difficulty will increase the longer we are asked to stay home.  This is one of the great challenges of this pandemic. 

And hence comes the need for trust.  We need to trust in our decision makers, both politicians and particularly public health experts who are providing guidance on what to do.   This pandemic is unique in recent times.

We all have heard that we have to “flatten the curve”.  It is a challenging concept for some who like clear messages and would prefer to hear that after so many weeks of this, it will be behind us.  But the reality is something different.  Since this is not going to go away anytime very soon, we all need to trust in and support our leaders, as any cracks in the system will mean a poorer outcome. 

Once that trust is broken, it is hard to rebuild, especially in a time of crisis.

Here at home in Canada, we can all be proud that our leaders are doing just that – leading.  They are putting people first, doing away with partisan arguments and most of all, they are showing us they will do whatever it takes to help people through this difficult time.    If we all work together, we can work our way through this and come out the other end with stronger relationships and a new level of trust that can be an excellent platform to move onto a different post pandemic future.

Please do all you can to keep your families and neighbours safe and help those who are isolated from friends and family or are suffering financial hardship.  As most of you who read this blog are a part of the nuclear community, we should always keep in mind that nuclear power is a people business more than anything else, consisting of people who all want to help make the world a better place.  I know this crisis will not deter us from this path but only strengthen our resolve.