I had an itch I had to scratch… [musings of an aquatic ape]
One underlying theme of this lockdown has been, for me, reflecting on the balance between individual rights and collective responsibility. I hardly need to offer examples, as you can all work this out for yourself, but the notion throws itself up all the time and is not explicitly addressed. At what point should you restrict what you are allowed to do because it will improve the lot or chances of others? Now, to me, seems like a good time.
A recent post on a swimming thread brought it into relief. Some were arguing that if the RNLI advised people not to swim, then they shouldn’t. I agree. Others then argued that where they swam was safe, they knew what they were doing and wouldn’t be bothering the emergency services. Yet others argued that as it wasn’t against the law, you could do what you liked. Others asserted that they would cost the NHS far more if they weren’t allowed to swim. I took from this last point that the author has a mental or physical condition that is alleviated or managed by immersion in sea water. And others came in without a particular position except the universal and, as regards the discourse, useless advice to – “calm down people”. Even if, good advice for the tone of the exchange. Or made some other reference to wider contextual issues, without expressing a position that swimming was a good or a bad thing.
No-one explicitly couched it in terms of ethics, morality or collective health impacts. Why not? I suspect that many people have got so used to not understanding that they are part of a web of life and that everything that they do has a resonance elsewhere. The individual reigns supreme. But you are not an individual, you are a microbiome, and you have no idea how the many yous behave. And you exist in a web of life, again with no clue how what you do resonates here, there and everywhere.
I may think that if I go down to a cove early one morning when no-one is about and swim, then all is OK. I am an experienced swimmer. I have swam for hours in the open sea. I am fit and healthy. And perhaps no one will see me, I will never run into trouble and I will never share that I have swum with anyone, on any platform ever. But I will still be wrong. Because on one of the many occasions I go, someone sees me. I become blasé, I go at different times, I exchange knowing winks with others doing the same thing, I notice people like it when I share tales of my rebellion against the lockdown in closed chat groups, or when I express outrage at the restrictions I am expected to follow by the Government. I look for wriggle room because it’s “not the law”, “it’s only advice”, “I’m sensible”, “I need to for x,y or z”. I am a libertarian hero. I’m not. I would be selfish. My needs would trump the needs of the many.
Because, as said above, everything touches everything, degrees of separation dissolve…the advice to give everyone 2m of separation is a guess based on experiences with flu…doing the least is best. What is it about swimming, aside from the immersion, that you crave? If it’s freedom – meditate or walk. If it’s calm – meditate or listen to Max Richter. If it’s the euphoria of cold – have a cold bath or shower. If it’s the company – set up a Zoom. If it’s something else – use your head. Evolution has blessed you with a brain, use it.