Good Deeds

The last year has been a very strange year, it has changed the world in good and bad ways. I have found that I have been in a lucky situation the last year as we had money for once in our lives, we got a dog and my mental health had improved considerably. However, I could see the worry and struggles around my town affecting my neighbours.

Yarrawonga is in Victoria Australia with 30% of our population made up of 65 plus years, which is the age group of people that die of the COVID 19. There were also my other neighbours that had to close their cafes and homeschool their four children. So, I decided that I wanted to help lift the spirits of my neighbours. I brought little gifts for everyone such as a roll of toilet paper, canned food, sanitiser, toothbrushes as well as other small essentials. I also included pencils as well as books to the children over the road. At the time I thought it was something small that wasn’t a big deal, but I dropped off the bags to each neighbour I met with my neighbours who were so happy to have this small act of kindness. The stressed mother who was homeschooling her children was so happy, all the kids came out and said thank you. My neighbours called me and sent me lovely messages. It made me realise that the happiness of others can make me feel grateful that I had these wonderful people around me that if this pandemic didn’t occur I wouldn’t have met them.

The night after sending the gifts to the family across the road sent me a gorgeous video of their family saying thank you for the gifts and how it made their day. It made me feel so happy that I could make these people so happy with just a small thought.

Growing up in this town we were always told to look out for our neighbours. I grew up knowing all my neighbors and making great friendships with them. I forgot about that closeness when I moved to the city and whenever you would say hi to my neighbours they would just put their heads down and ignore you.

I have been lucky to have been going through this pandemic in my home town where there have been no cases of covid as we all make sure to follow the guidelines to make sure our town comes out of this crisis still going strong.

There has been a noticeable increase in people moving away from the city to the country they seem so grateful and happy to be able to get out of the isolation and lockdowns in Melbourne. I have noticed that they are treating the locals with kindness which has been rather remarkable, they are willing to say hi and i have been stopped in the streets by many children as well as adults wanting to pat my dog in which I let them and realise that they also want someone to talk to.

This pandemic has given the eyes to notice that Humans can be remarkable, we want to help each other and look out for each other. We crave the old world before 2020 but we need to realise that there is a new world in front of this and the last year has opened our eyes to realise the importance of having each other to help us fight the loneliness in which Covid has caused.

I think in ways the future looks glum but there is something that has shifted in my eyes anyway such as the way people are enjoying themselves more and appreciating the luxuries we have living in a country like we do where our cases are low. As we watch the other countries struggle with these lockdowns we need to realise that we need not blame the government or the society we live in. We need to realise that maybe this pandemic has allowed us to be with our families and appreciate them as well as the world I live in. Being kind to one another can allow us to keep our sense of community and learn to live in the moment, appreciate the small things in life such as a smile from a neighbour for just thinking of them and passing on kindness to each other by being kind.