Skiing During A Pandemic?

I believe that I am one of the vast majority of Daily Mail readers who felt a spasm of rage pass through when I read an article, earlier in the week, about a group of gap-year students attempting to fly out to Switzerland to enrol for a course to qualify as skiing instructors. There may have been up to thirty of them in all. But since Switzerland refused entry for these students, instead, they had to arrange alternative transport into France to stay at a French resort, due to the present pandemic.

A few of them tried Eurostar, but they were refused to travel. At least they saw some common sense and returned home. The others made their journey on French trains which were crowded with other people. Obviously no lockdown in France, apparently, and so reaching their destination at the French Alps, it was found that a number of them were tested positive for Coronavirus, and the entire group, 26 of them in all, had to go into quarantine. And that despite their protests that they were all tested negative before they departed from the UK.   

Even though Swiss borders are shut to all visitors, their skiing resorts were open with ski lifts in full operation. Hence the original destination for the students. But the French resorts were closed, including all the ski lifts remaining out of service. And so, they ended up holed up in a French hotel.

Much to the rage of the locals.

Then I scrolled through the page to the comments forum. And just as expected, a near-universal condemnation for daring to travel overseas for "a non-essential cause" while the rest of us are afraid even to leave our homes, should we be stopped and fined by the local "jam sandwich." Some of these comments, yes, more than one or two, remarked that the British are the most disliked by the indigenous of other countries due to their arrogance and imperialistic devil-may-care attitude. Then there were a few in the comments forum who defended the students, insisting that they were not on holiday but out to enrol on a college course.

Pull the other leg!

Just as a police drone flies over a natural beauty spot to book and fine any lonely dog-walker strolling on a remote and deserted trail, or penalise a couple sitting on a park bench, a group of students had the audacity to book for a course on becoming skiing instructors. Indeed, little wonder that many of us, including myself, have steam coming out of our ears like a double-spout kettle on full boil. But why? What is it about a group of 18-20-year-olds flying out to have a bit of skiing fun? What if the group in question were, instead, some volunteers flying out to the poorer regions of Africa to help in feeding and providing medical care to those living in dire poverty? Or even some senior citizens on a coach trip to visit the Palazzo de Madame in Turin? With everyone masked and the group fully-contained, I doubt whether any of us would make much a fuss. If anything, and perhaps with a few exceptions, the comment forum would tend to lean on the expression, best of luck to them.

I try to analyse my own motives. Is it down to jealousy? I'm not sure about that since I have never skied in my life and I have no interest in starting. Could it be due to their apparent selfish attitude and with little or no regard to the welfare of the locals? This seems more to the point. Although among the vast majority of protesters having a variety of mixed emotions, I tend to believe that it's down to their smug and inconsiderate attitude. Anyone who knows me well may even accuse me of hypocrisy, blaming others for doing something I love doing myself. As I reminisce on those glory days of international travel - Israel and particularly Jerusalem, USA, Canada, Europe, Australia, Singapore - at least it was all done in innocence. There was no pandemic going around during those glory days.

Nor any idea of the 9/11 destruction of the World Trade Center would have ever crossed my mind either. In 1978, I actually stood on the rooftop of one of those twin towers. And with regret, I missed out on a second visit to those giant cigarette-lighters during my visit to New York in 1998, a year before I married Alex. Instead, it was the viewing platform of the Empire State building where I stood, looking across Manhatten at the distant twin towers of the World Trade Center. Who would ever have thought that exactly twenty years later in 2018, our beloved Tory MP, an Etonian and quintessential Englishman, Jacob Rees-Mogg, would stand at exactly the same spot as I did, except that he was clothed in a suit and tie on a hot day? And besides, his view of the same skyline would have been remarkably different from my day.

Jacob Rees-Mogg with his family in New York, 2018.

Even after we've married, Alex and I enjoyed trips to Israel, Rhodes, Kos, Sicily, Malta and Lanzarote. My original plan was to take her to see the magnificent Grand Canyon, but as she began to show symptoms of a neurological disorder, such an idea was permanently shelved. Furthermore, having watched YouTube videos of this awesome wonder, Alex admitted that standing near the edge would have given her the creeps. She suffers from acrophobia, thus taken her there may not have been a good idea after all.

Therefore, I can cope with shelving travel altogether due to the pandemic. But even as recently as Spring 2019, a booked trip to Brussels on the Eurostar had to be cancelled because of her ongoing treatment for breast cancer. Although a refund was successfully reclaimed from the fees paid for the hotel booking, the fares paid for Eurostar was forever lost, as was the fees for a trip to Crete was partially lost in 2013 after her neurological ailment took a turn for the worse. But why worry about lost money? It was soon replenished anyway through the State pension. To me, my beloved's health means much more than travel or wealth, something which, I admit, took a long time to learn, that the life God has given us is worth much, much more than any form of wealth.

Given all these, I can understand the students' desire for a bit of skiing experience, even if it's under the guise of studying. And I can feel the bitter frustration felt among them when a pandemic happens to take hold at just the wrong moment, especially after years of planning, and quite likely the loss of any expenses covered by the Bank of Mum & Dad. Possibly, it's their feeling of entitlement which stirs the ire, despite the spread of the virus and the anxiety stirred among the locals, they must feel the obligation to go, anyway.

All this gives me the impression that the typical undergraduate is becoming more unpopular as the years goes by. I recall the times of my younger years when such future leaders, scientists, doctors, philosophers, etc, were held with reverential respect by the majority of the population who had never achieved such high levels of education, myself included. My late father certainly made sure I was taught to respect them as I grew up. And this was endorsed by my former school PE master when a pupil without his kit produced a doctor's note. That piece of paper spared him from the corporal punishment administered to everyone who forgets to bring his gear for the lesson. Such was school life in the mid-sixties.

As for those students now holed up at a French hotel, it's so easy to feel unsympathetic, angry even, at their apparent lack of consideration for their families, the community they reside at, along with the French locals, and even among each other. Skiing, for heaven's sake, during a pandemic! And knowing that it was mostly skiers who were largely responsible for bringing the virus into Britain from the heavily-infected northern regions of Italy around February last year, thus leading to the first of the lockdowns with all the disruptions to normal living involved and an accompanying rise in coronavirus deaths.

Taking all this into account, what would I, for one, gain in feeling irate? Nothing! Rather, harbouring such feelings would only cause my own health to deteriorate. It's another case of not what I eat but what eats me. Time and time again it's proven that feeling constantly angry or bitter will lead to an early grave.

Maybe, that was what Paul had in mind when he advised the church in Ephesus to be angry but not sin, and not to let the sun go down on their anger (Ephesians 4:26.) Not only the apostle had their spiritual welfare in his heart but their physical health as well. Yet, here looks to be a contradiction. First, in v.26, he says, be angry but do not sin. Then straight afterwards, in v. 31, he says, Get rid of all bitterness, rage and anger. It's okay to be angry at injustice, such as a man bullying a child or robbing from a defenceless pensioner. Jesus himself showed his anger when he saw his Father's Temple in Jerusalem turned into "a den of thieves." Here He makes a whip of cords and with it, drives out the merchants, their stock and their money. But after justice has been met, His anger dies off. Jesus did not allow the sun to go down on His anger.

Could this be the same way I have felt about those students? Having gone into quarantine instead of the ski slope, have they learned their lesson not to travel during a pandemic?

And how would I react if I saw and spoken to one of those students? Upbraid him? Not at all. Rather, I would prefer to invite him into a Starbucks or Costa Coffee and treat him. Over a cappuccino, I would ask him what his motivation was to travel overseas to a Swiss ski slope during a pandemic, when everyone else living here has to endure all the restrictions a lockdown imposes, with the threat of a penalty dished out to anyone sitting at a park bench, travelling outside our local area, or going out with a small group.

Like that, I would get him to talk. And if he can see that there is no ill-feeling lurking within, nor any feelings of bitterness or that of judging, then he is more likely open up. With the likelihood of respecting each other's opinions, a friendship forms, and could even open up an opportunity to share the testimony of my faith in Jesus Christ. Anger is overcome by love! And mercy smiles at the judgement.