After two years of draconian rules St Patrick's Day was much appreciated

What a pleasure it was to be in attendance on last week at the 36th Kilcormac St Patrick's Day Parade. Great crowds turned out for the event and there were very few facemasks in evidence.
The two years of Covid were a very strange time and the extremely severe restrictions were strongly disliked by many. Now that the disease is in the process of switching, thank God, from pandemic to endemic we all feel like prisoners released from jail. We are out the other side of a torrid two years and there's a strong sense of relief as we go about our lives freed from the draconian rules.
Covid featured prominently in the Kilcormac Parade and the predominant mood was one of gratefulness; gratefulness to the frontline workers in hospitals who continued going into work every day despite considerable risk to their own health.
Unfortunately, a second omicron wave is causing case numbers to rise in hospitals, something which is causing concern for some people, who not only worry about the potential impacts on their health but also dread the return of Lockdowns. This dreadful disease has been very cruel in mental as well as physical ways and it continues to hammer away at our mental health. The media that I trust (and which is usually correct in its analysis) tells me that this omicron second wave is not something to be unduly worried about. Basically, the BA.2 omicron variant is taking over the BA.1 omicron variant. BA.2 is as transmissable as measles, which means it's phenomenally transmissable. In the UK and here BA.2 is the dominant variant. (In China what we are seeing is the perpetuation of the Covid Zero strategy. The problem there is that the Chinese government doesn't want to lose face on this and are worried about a lot of deaths if they take away restrictions. Some of the western experts which I listen to and trust are saying that this Covid Zero strategy is ferociously draconian and unjust, and can't work. It's merely wilful blindness in the face of the inevitable, the inevitable being Covid transitioning from pandemic to endemic. You can't stop a virus that has the transmissability of the measles virus).
The inevitable transition to endemic is happening across the world, which is a good thing because we are going to get constantly reinfected and constantly build up our immunity. In Ireland about half of our Covid cases are incidental, which means the patients were admitted for some other cause; and our numbers in ICU are low.
Therefore, as sure as one can be in the difficult and often cruel thing that is existence, we should be ok and we should be able to enjoy lots more community events like we did on Patrick's Day over the coming months.
However, there was another reminder of another crisis in Kilcormac on Thursday: Leading the parade was the Mountbolus Pipe Band performing The Minstrel Boy, which was an appropriate choice as war now rages in Europe once again - "The minstrel boy to the war is gone. In the ranks of death you'll find him."
We have all been horrified this week to see on our television screens the criminal bombing of Mariupol, a place that is now the very definition of hell on earth. The cruelty, the savagery, the darkness, is appalling.
We were only in the initial weeks of enjoying the end of Covid restrictions, when we were visited by another crisis and more anxiety, when a cruel tyrant committed an act of immense stupidity and invaded Ukraine. Suddenly the media was talking about World War III and nuclear missiles.
We could be forgiven for feeling that life is being very unjust at the moment, as if some higher force is deliberately trying to put humanity through a grinder, through an endurance test. How apt the timing therefore when Shackleton's ship was discovered last week 3,000 metres below the surface of the Weddell Sea. The images from the underwater drone were wonderful. The ship was remarkably well preserved, including its name - Endurance. Shackleton and his crew went through a frightening and terrible trial, an endurance test; similarly, humanity has been afflicted with the endurance test of Covid; and now millions are being battered by war, worrying what the madman in the Kremlin might do next. Shackleton prevailed, against incredible odds. The people of Ukraine are praying that they too will prevail. Some are praying for a Julius Caesar moment in the Kremlin; for an “Et tu Brute? Then fall Caesar” moment.
During testing times we need inspirational leaders. Shackleton was an inspirational leader who knew how to get the best from his men. His approach to leading others in difficult times was optimism (balanced of course with reason). He knew how easy it was to sink into depression when faced with adversity and that keeping our negative instincts at bay often gave us the best fighting chance. “Optimism is true moral courage,” commented Shackleton, a characteristic which when mingled with intelligence and a true appraisal of the situation at hand, is best placed to help people achieve very great things indeed. Shackleton was from Kildare. Two other members of the crew were from Ireland as well. They were Tom Crean from Annascaul, County Kerry and Tim McCarthy from County Cork. Crean was the ideal person to have in a tight fix. He was strong, courageous, good humoured and experienced. Tim McCarthy was described by a fellow expedition member as being “the most irrepressible optimist I have ever met.”