People spend a lot of time arguing about whether Jesus was a real historical figure, and whether he was divine or human. Much more important to me are the lessons that are contained in the gospels about how it is right to live. We are all connected, all part of the same spirit, and how we treat each other matters.
Life has taken an odd turn, with many of us protected from the worst of the current crisis by our gardens, or our ownership of houses, or money in the bank. There has been a lot of rubbish talked about the virus being a great leveller, as some of the highest in the land have fallen victim to it, but their experience is not the experience of the poor and homeless.
Both high-profile sufferers in the UK, both Charles Windsor and Boris Johnson, have had access to tests which are denied the others and to private medicine. They aren't having to persuade an ambulance crew that they are ill enough to get into hospital, they aren't queuing in ambulances to be seen at hospitals, or lying in corridors. Neither have had to worry that their nearest and dearest would be without food or having to break quarantine in order to get medication or food.
Arguably, the people who are suffering the most are those who are going into the front line on our behalf, the doctors, nurses, yes, but also the post office workers, the cleaners, the delivery drivers, the shop assistants, the people who work in warehouses and in lowly jobs where they are on zero hours contracts and don't get paid unless they work. People who are forced to leave their houses every day in order to serve us all, and who will worry that they are not protected from the virus and may bring it home to the people they love.
That some people are finding a sacrifice of staying indoors too much to bear is hard to imagine, in the face of that much greater sacrifice, but of course, if you are stuck inside with few resources and very little room, that's an entirely different prospect from being in a large house with a garden. It's easy to judge those who aren't respecting the lockdown, but hard to put yourself in another's shoes and understand their experience.
I am hoping that the appreciation that people feel for the NHS and its workers, will translate into better funding, and more recognition for the work that they do on our behalf. And that the lesson of this lockdown is to appreciate all the people who work on our behalf, from dustbin people to doctors. And fund them, and measures to eliminate homelessness and hunger within the fifth richest country in the world.
The old people in residential homes, where they don't even get taken to hospital and have been Do-not-resuscitated without their permission. The homeless, who have nowhere to hide and no family to fetch provisions for them and no money to buy them.
After ten years of Conservative rule, it is odd to see them applauding the NHS that they have starved of money and resources. To see them pouring money into the things that Jeremy Corbyn campaigned to have funded properly.
