Post pandemic kindness

This ‘Post pandemic kindness’ blog article was written by Pat Jewell, Program Manager in the Parenting and Early Years team, at Australian Childhood Foundation.

For most people across the world Covid-19 provided an opportunity to concentrate and focus on what is really important to us. As our world shrunk we had the opportunity to scrutinize our values and principles and become more caring and kinder to others around us.

In Hugh Mackay’s book ‘The Kindness Revolution’, he talks about the inevitable consequence of being kind and caring as the realisation of “just how interdependent and interconnected we really are” and how resilient we therefore become when we connect with others. Mackay asks whether Australia can be a loving country, as well as a lucky country!

All Australians have been in the pandemic together, but parts of Australia have taken extra beatings with bushfires, floods and now ferocious storms leaving people without electricity and in some cases homeless. Each crisis has brought kindness to the forefront of our attention.

Kindness showed itself in many different ways from organisations and community groups. Groups such as the amazing Sikh’s community, who came out in force cooking and providing cultural appropriate fresh food during the longest of Melbourne’s lockdowns. The Sikh’s call this “Sewa” (selfless service).

However, receiving less publicity are the small acts of kindness that are happening in neighbourhoods. Taking time to say hello and offering to help with whatever was needed.

Leeroy Kerr, who supported people to access centrelink benefits, said, “one thing this virus has shown is that we possess layers of kindness that have nothing to do with religion or politics. It’s been the control-alt-delete the world needed. I just hope the kindness continues when all this is behind us.”

Can we become a loving country?