There is no doubt about it, 2020 has been a stressor year – no-one will ever argue with that! And Lorne – along with so many other smaller communities – has proved to be a microcosm of the nation at large.
There has been fear, uncertainty, anger, recrimination, separation, isolation [and a retreat into isolationism], much [misdirected] blame, and multiple threads of conspiratorial thinking – sadly all very human and largely understandable responses to the unknown and the unknowable. Yet, as counterbalances to these emotions and as stronger bonds of community have formed, we have witnessed a heightened sense of togetherness and purpose, of pride in who we are, and of how to respond with empathy and generosity of spirit. How – when the chips are down – we can band together for the common weal.
So many small acts of kindness, of giving, and of thoughtfulness have emerged in our town, acts that have thankfully subsumed and softened the occasional flares of selfishness that adversity can trigger – especially in these recent and unusually unsettling few months.
Though it is trite to think I might conjure them all, the first and whole-of-community consuming task was to recognise, identify, then support those in our community who were most brutally hit by the first ‘lockdown’ … those individuals and/or families who lost their work, livelihood, income, and equilibrium to the initial first wave of the viral pandemic. This not only affected several local and mainly young Lorne families, but the speed, severity, and totality of the lockdown effectively trapped a large cohort of our backpacker and seasonal workers – many from overseas, many with limited English, and many with barely more than the shirts on their backs. As their ongoing hospitality work and the living income it provided suddenly ceased, they were unable to leave yet had nowhere to stay. Sandals and a tee shirt – the ubiquitous seasonal worker summer wardrobe – proved poor protection as the colder months began to close in.
Step up: the Lorne community! Donations of clothing, food, bedding, cash for a small spending stipend, and organised multi-site accommodation were rapidly co-ordinated through Lorne Community Connect, ably led by Clive and Lesley Goldsworthy, Gary Allen, Pakitu Henry, Jonn Stewart and his wonderful staff at Foodworks, and a consortium of local community, business, and organisational representatives loosely known as the Covid-19 Support Plan Committee. Seventy-two unexpected but very welcome durational additions to our lock-down population were fed, clothed, housed and found odd jobs [firewood-cutting, car-washing, site maintenance and the like] to while away their long weeks of isolation. When their time eventually came to leave after the lockdown lifted, many expressed that they had formed a deep connection to the town and its people – perhaps a true measure of the care given, and the spirit in which it was taken.
Step up: the Year 11 and 12 VCAL students from Lorne P1-12 College! These resourceful kids have collected, collated, and exhibited [throughout December at Lorne Community Connect] a cross-sectional time capsule “Tales of Lorne in Lockdown” … recording the emotions – both positive and negative – that permeated the town in those isolating weeks. They received so many response – both swift and thoughtful – recording thoughts ‘unvarnished’ and emotions raw. But, flying in the face of expectation, came bursts of humour, hope, positivity, and creativity that clearly trumped – in number and sentiment – any sense of hurt, sadness, isolation, or despondency.
Step up: our non-residential property-owners, many of whom decided to make Lorne your home and primary address throughout the pandemic and the lockdowns (x 2). Though you may have faced some vitriol and angst at the start, you stuck with us, lending your support and your patronage to the many local businesses that may not have survived without your help. While it is known that some did take an ‘arrive-by-night/fly-by-night’ advantage of the town, these were few in number. Meanwhile, the overwhelming number of non-permanent residents who played by the rules, either by staying, or staying away … both groups made a lasting contribution to the survival of the town … whether through your in-town financial contributions, or by helping ensure that the virus never entered the town. So … to you, our thanks.
At the start of 2020, shock, uncertainty, gloom, and doom dominated. The commonest topic: how could this be happening? The last generation with any residual memory of ‘global disaster’ [World War II] were now our most elderly and most vulnerable 80’s and over. The idealistic, revolutionary, and collectivist, post-war ‘Baby-Boomers’; the materialistic, competitive, and individualistic ‘Gen X’s’; the globalist, questioning, and self-oriented ‘Gen Y’s’; and the gender-fluid, communaholic, and realistic ‘Gen Z’s’ … each and all grew up ‘disaster-proofed’, and ignorant of global cataclysm. Welcome, all, to the perfidious ‘real world’.
Perhaps 2020 was ‘the year we had to have’. Certainly, it could be argued that our wanton hedonism, our consumer ‘me too-ism’ needed a sharp reality check. Well, we got it! Yet, even as tragedy and death rolled on:
- Welcome whispers of softer, kinder, more caring governments [Federal and State] were detected – certainly they tried and tried hard – if only these whispers are not lost in the rush to economic recovery. Mistakes were made – true – but in the global scheme of things, leadership errors were few.
- Among ourselves, thought for others, and not just for self, twinkled through.
- Pauses to chat, to get-to-know, to ask – with feeling – about the well-being of others, pervaded our otherwise solitary beach walks.
- In troubled times, we learned to eye-smile behind our masks – learning that smiling eyes show a softer soul.
So … in the end … maybe 2020 has not been so bad, after all. Maybe, now that the Mad King has been unceremoniously booted off the world stage, and as decency [we hope] seeps back into politics, and if we can just hold onto the human face of this most inhuman year – we can emerge as a better world, a better town, better people.
Hold onto this thought, Lorne, as we dive headlong into the maw of 2021.
John Agar
