Una Mullally: Government failing to lead us through pandemic
Our politicians are not immune to the national meltdown provoked by Covid-19
It’s okay to find things hard right now. But it is temporary, even if it feels like we’re stuck in a loop. Photograph: Daragh McSweeney/Provision
I was queuing outside a shop at the weekend when I heard a fellow customer chatting with their friend and declaring “I’m sick of life.” While resisting the urge to offer them a hug – something social distancing doesn’t allow for in the current context – the remark does sum up an element of the broad national feeling at the moment.
The ideal outcome of a pandemic is that you survive, that you stay alive during a period where so many have died, and there is an immense privilege to feeling “bored”, “sick of it all” and “over it”. If you are feeling any or all of these things right now, then congratulations, you are alive.