Tomorrow is Anzac Day 2020. Usually there is ritual based around this date, commemorating the fallen soldiers. Last year I attended my first dawn service and thoroughly enjoyed the solemnity and comradeship of this event. This year I was looking forward to the same, but Covid 19 has put a dampener on this, or has it?

Even though the usual marches and gatherings will not be going ahead, collective creativity has stepped in as we look for other ways to commemorate this event. There will be an audiocast at 5.30 and 11.00am, there will be a lone bugle player at some memorials, and old mates who usually catch up at the pub are going to catch up on Zoom.

People are being invited to stand in their driveway or front verandah with a candle at 6.00am as a show of solidarity and unity to commemorate Anzac Day.

What I’m seeing here is a gift in the adversity. The adversity is the inability to celebrate Anzac day as we know it. The gift is the opportunity for collective creativity and a new way of seeing / doing things. What a great gift!

Despite the many adversities of Covid 19, there have been many gifts:

Petrol is at an all time low (about half of what it used to be);

We are showing more kindness and compassion;

Mother Earth is breathing clearer with less pollution;

We are embracing baking, growing veggies, and having chooks in the backyard;

Creativity is rife as we find new ways – to do business, to connect, to live and to be;

Those that have lost jobs are offering to help those even less fortunate;

A five star hotel in Perth has opened its doors to the homeless and the manager reported that in his entire twenty year career, never has he met such an interesting bunch of people!

Teddy bears and soft toys are popping up everywhere as we engage in a global bear hunt.

And the best part about all this? You and I can tell our kids and grandkids that we lived through the pandemic of 2020!

Acknowledge the adversity (yes it sucks to have your work hours cut back and yes it sucks to not be able to sit a cafe and enjoy a catch up with friends, yes, yes and yes) but underneath all this there are hidden gifts waiting to be found.