Due to the coronavirus pandemic that has swept the globe, we haven’t been able to engage in any direct service for quite some time now. However, we did spend some time in school using our usual sessions of Service to try and plan activities we would do once the coronavirus restrictions lifted. Perhaps the most interesting part of this was how we were planning for something in a changing situation where we didn’t know when we would be able to actually go back and do our activities. Maybe it was just me, but this seems to be markedly less motivating than when we knew that we would be going to the lodge in a few weeks time. Something less of a sense of purpose I suppose. Furthermore, it was somewhat disconcerting to see how quickly plans got derailed. For example, we had some sort of joint presentation organised with the other Apex Harmony Lodge group on Friday but that got essentially derailed when the school got outright cancelled and we ended up not coming back. And it was quite disconcerting really when you are planning for something and it just doesn’t happen. And yet… that IS how so many things work in the real world. There are many many startup businesses that don’t make it or crowdfunded campaigns that never amount to much after all. Our experience of Service then is more often than not shaped by the school infrastructure so that the vast majority of the time if we plan something it actually does happen. When other factors get involved though it seems that is not always the case.
