Steve Caswell
Broker
Realty Executives of Sudbury Ltd.
Before I get into this week’s blog, I want to send some big hugs and love to our Eastern brothers and sisters in Nova Scotia. Such a horrible and tragic story that happened to such friendly and happy people. No one deserves to wake up to the week they have had.
I’ve had some shitty days in my life. I mentioned in my Adversity blog that my story wasn’t shittier than anyone else’s story, everyone just has a different story. I’m retracting that comment now. There are 100’s, if not 1000’s, of people in Nova Scotia who instantly have a way shittier story than me and I sincerely feel deeply for them. They’re tough as hell out there, so I know they’ll get past this, but it will be a tough road and I hope they know they have the entire country’s support behind them.
As we mentioned in our weekly update to our clients, what unfolded out east was an extremely blunt reminder that it could be worse. As we all woke up on that Sunday morning that felt the same as yesterday and likely the same as tomorrow, our Nova Scotian brethren were waking up to a completely devasting change to their “Groundhog Day”. Hopefully everyone put their frustration of being quarantined in their back pocket that morning and appreciated just how lucky we were to wake up into that boring, new normal.
Now, although the families and communities of those 22 people now have a devastating recent past to come to terms with, there are also over 2000 families across Canada that are suffering with loss because of COVID-19. Although our hearts all broke simultaneously for Nova Scotia, unfortunately we have become numb to the others as they are just “aggregate stats” and numbers on the screen. The numbers are just too big for the media to interview every single family member from those 2000 plus Canadians we’ve lost since the onset of this, but I’m sure hearing them all individually would help us put real loss to those “stats” we’re hit with during daily updates.
It’s not our fault, it’s just the nature of it. When we get walloped by a snowstorm, we don’t recognize each individual snowflake. When cottage country is flooding, you can’t count the rain drops. But, in either circumstance, it can be overwhelming and even become devastating.
Over 2000 Canadians gone is devastating. Hell, one is devastating, but the scale of loss has become so large that we’re nearly immune to it when they add another 10 here and another 50 there.
These are people. These are the elderly that raised us and provided us the opportunities we have today. These are the frontline workers throwing their own body on the grenade to save us. These are the most vulnerable people in our society that we have failed to protect. But, piled together, they’re just a number on the screen.
Now we’re seeing provinces starting to present plans to loosen up restrictions and we’re all feeling some cautious optimism that we’re about to get the green light to start moving in the other direction. Personally, I feel the same as all of you that we might be lining up in the starting blocks waiting for the race to start.
But, as we’re based in Sudbury, Ontario, I’m using this blog to tell everyone in Ontario to settle down. This race won’t seem fair when it starts, but life hasn’t been fair to a lot of people lately. Some runners will get to take off, while we’re going to be stuck at the starting line looking at the race official wondering why we’re being treated differently.
As we’ve seen, Saskatchewan, Manitoba and New Brunswick have specific dates in the very near future where restrictions start to loosen. And, when reviewing them, I get so excited seeing how we’ll get to golf again, we’ll get to go camping, we’ll get to hang out with another household and soon get to hang with friends/family in small groups. Then we’ll get to go out for dinner, we’ll be able to get a haircut and we’ll be able to move back towards what we remember as normalcy.
But, I’m wrong. That’s THEM, not me. Not us.
We have to wait. We have to continue to be patient in Ontario. We have to put our jealousy and frustrations aside and be happy for, and proud of, our fellow Canadians that they did what needed to be done to save the lives of their family members and their neighbours.
Daily, in Ontario, we’re still seeing the reminders that we’re not quite out of the woods. And that statement seems so blasé when the reminder comes in the form of a daily death count. We’re still seeing more families losing loved ones, more Canadians passing without any family around them, more Ontarians being sent to empty funeral homes where only a handful of people get to say goodbye. There are no Celebrations of Life for these people that are victims of a widespread disaster. There are no hugs to those that have lost loved ones.
After creating a lifetime of family, friends and community, they die alone. Sure, that's harsh, but it's 100% necessary to remind you why you’re still stuck at home while some of our fellow Canadians are starting to make plans for a day at the beach.
The provinces that are starting to loosen up are past the truly ugly part of this phenomenon – we, in Ontario, are not. And it’s important we remember why we’re not going to the camp/cottage, why we’re not crowding arenas and why we’re not bringing the grandkids over to grandma’s so we can go out for a night on the town.
We’re doing it to save lives. We’re doing it so people don’t die alone without their family there. We’re doing it to support the most vulnerable in our community while we watch Netflix and bbq steaks. We’re doing it because every single person deserves the right to be alive on the other side of this.
Ontario, be patient. The more we stay calm, curtail our frustration and remember that others’ lives depend on us, the quicker we’ll be golfing, having a fish fry at camp and hugging grandma.
Look at that daily death count for what it is – an extremely blunt reminder that your days could be worse.
For now, it’s time to hurry up and wait. The race won’t seem fair, but let’s make sure every single person is given their fair chance to get to the finish line.
Contributed by:
Steve Caswell
Cell - 705.561.8767
Disclaimer: The views and opinions expressed in this article are solely those of the author(s) and do not necessarily reflect the official policy or position of any other salespersons, staff or affiliates of Realty Executives of Sudbury LTD. Brokerage, Realty Executives International, the Sudbury Real Estate Board, Ontario Real Estate Association, Canadian Real Estate Association or any of their subsidiaries. For any concerns pertaining to the content herein, please contact us immediately at caswellteam@realtyexecutives.com.
