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New, Not New

May 5, 2020 by Annemarie Shrouder Leave a Comment

For many of us, the past 6 weeks in quarantine/lock down have been… interesting.

Some things have changed, some things maybe not so much.

For example: Because I work from home (unless I’m training), being home is not a big difference. Spending all day with my 7 year old and homeschooling is. Another example: we are in “lock down” so there is nowhere to go. But when you’re a single parent, with babysitting costs these days, I don’t go anywhere anyways. So no big difference there!

I have had the opportunity to talk to clients and colleagues during these weeks and one of the things we have spoken about a lot is what’s different, what’s not, what’s good, what’s not.

I wrote about what’s good a few weeks ago. You can read it here.

What’s different?

But let’s consider what’s different, and here’s my point:

For some people, things are very different. Their world is upside down. That could be because they are elderly and aren’t seeing family, or because they are kids and aren’t in school and can’t see their friends.

For others, things are not so different.

Not so different…

Yesterday on call someone brought up the personal reactions of people regarding social distancing. What it’s like to have someone actually step away from you and make more space.

That is not a new concept for some people.

Consider the Black man who experiences people crossing the street when they see him coming (even in daylight).

That’s one example. I’m sure if we asked people – from cultural groups, from 2SLGBTQI+ populations, homeless people (as a few examples) they would tell us that people making more physical space between them isn’t new. Because of stereotypes, assumptions, wonky things people have been taught, messaging that promotes separation, and fear.

So the opportunity here is to be mindful of what this feels like when someone does it to us, and to use that awareness to have more compassion with others.

See more.

Filed Under: Exclusion Tagged With: assumptions, exclusion, Fear, separation, social distancing

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