Shared pain

It is true that community exists where we least expect it — in parks and in isolation being a shared experience. The author puts it nicely when she quotes Olivia Laing, “Physical proximity does not necessarily mean fulfilling intimacy, and this also would infer that “isolation can be a shared experience” (“No regrets for moving to London in a pandemic,” Feb. 20, Gulf Today).

Just the knowledge that that person walking their dog is in the same situation as you, as is the elderly man on his walk around the park. In silence, and despite it, we are in solidarity with one another.

The two points that are notable from her article are these — that comfort can be found when you see other people, including strangers sharing your pain; pandemic pain is a shared pain. Everyone understands it.

The second is that cities aren’t all that bad. The word city conjures up the image of pollution, crowded spaces, concrete and the absence of green. But cities have their own charm and they are alive with stories, courtesy their inhabitants.

Certainly, nature and the countryside in its quietude also throbs with life, but that doesn’t negate the life in the city.

It is said that home is a person. Home is also community. A vocal or a silent bond, it doesn’t matter, because it’s a bonding among people that share the fact of being human and needing the belongingness that a community offers.

Joyce D
By email