It was March 14, 2020 when the world health organization and many countries in our world informed us that we were in a serious pandemic. It was then, that many of the world’s inhabitants began in earnest to rethink what is really important.
About 25 years ago, I wrote a series of articles called . . .
“The seven bank accounts of a farmer.” The seven were: Soil, Seed, The team, Continuous education, Neighbours, Politics and Money. After reading all seven articles, it became obvious for many farmers that they were named in order of importance.
My father had a saying that I’ll never forget, “You don’t have to be rich, but without a little money in your pocket, sometimes it’s damn unhandy.” As we enter week 61 in this “work from home, stay at home, wear a mask, keep six feet away from both enemies and friends, only shop for absolute necessities, learn to learn and conduct meetings and entertainment from home, get vaccinated, and don’t even visit a doctor or hospital unless you absolutely have to” we all learn that whether we are lawyers, scientists, or farmers, the importance of the team we have set up and our thirst for “continuous learning” comes before money.
Because we have never been in a war like this before, the rule book is being written and revised as quickly as it can be as we go. If we can win this war in less than two years, it will be the first world war (or pandemic) to be conquered that fast.
As the majority of our population will very soon have received their first vaccination we can see victory on the horizon. When people argue over which vaccine is the best I compare it to whether you like you milk “96 per cent fat free,” “92 per cent fat free,” “99 per cent fat free,” or just as the cow produced it, like I do. All our family and many others including most of our teenage grandchildren have now received the first vaccination and several different vaccines have been used with no serious side effects.
A very serious after effect that is showing up in some people that have survived the COVID-19 virus is how it affects the way the brain deals with stress or even uncomplicated problems. Cases are beginning to appear like, a breakup of a former very happy family, businesses or family farms that were formally looked up to as the best in their community.
The most tragic result is numerous suicides when people’s minds could no longer cope with minor problems. There is never an acceptable answer for a death by suicide, however I have watched several farming communities organize mile long parades of tractors accompanying a young suicide victim’s final ride past the farm to the graveyard. In each case, the victim survived COVID-19 but died from suicide after. Even though the surrounding farming community rallied, worked ground and planted the crop I worry about how the surviving young family will cope.
Many soldiers returned from wars with what they called shell shock, now called PTSD. No one has yet came up with a name for this serious aftermath of COVID-19 but it is a serious problem that we pray that our family does not have to deal with.
Chris Judd is a farmer in Clarendon on land that
has been in his family for generations.
gladcrest@gmail.com
