2020: Reflections of an Indie Bookseller
2020: Reflections of an Indie Bookseller
by Jaye Chin-Dusting
On a year of global change, local triumphs and big epiphanies.
2020 – what a year! After a brutal summer of bushfires, we barely had a chance to draw breath before COVID-19 and all its consequences befell us. My deep condolences to those who lost loved ones, a job, a place to call their own or who missed family, friends, experiences or connections. To some extent, that means all of us. As we head, bruised and limping, towards the end of this annus horribilis, it’s time to reflect upon the year. Without diminishing the significance of our collective losses, it’s the gains that I want to focus on in this end-of-the-year blog.
My most significant, big picture gain from this year is no less than an epiphany. For the first time ever, large pockets of humanity proved capable of acting in unison to protect our most vulnerable. Thus paradoxically, in this grimmest of years, I’m at my most optimistic for the future of the planet. Perhaps it is only by virtue of being in Melbourne that this privileged perspective is possible. When the going got tough Melburnians ignored the noise, looked up the rules, understood that our rights stop where someone else’s start, and set about getting the job done. Together apart, we beat it.
To me, this proven ability to function as one means that the inevitable descent into climate disaster is perhaps not so inevitable. The pause on activity across the world led to significant drops in global CO2 and, much quicker than we imagined, sections of ecology measurably improved. But my epiphany is not that a smaller carbon footprint is a good thing. We already know that. It’s that this year we proved that large populations can work in a single coordinated effort when we have to. There is a way forward.
With similar coordinated determination, vaccines have been developed at an extraordinary rate. For anyone rattled that it has come too quickly for comfort, here are the facts. We always had the know-how. What we haven’t had until now are unlimited resources, the desperate need and the united will.
As a former professor of medical research, it is deeply gratifying to observe investment in research coming to fruition: from molecular biology and virology to clinical care and public health. Australia punches above its weight in terms of discoveries, but the real point of a country investing in STEM and research is that when a crisis hits we have people on the ground who understand the language, can interpret the data and are able to give evidence-based, locally-specific advice.
How quickly scientific communities responded to the virus wasn’t a surprise to me. As a politically-jaded former researcher, however, I was surprised that governments all over the world listened to the health advice AND acted accordingly. Sure there were those who failed, and others who are now faltering - a year is a long time to hold steadfast. But these weak leadership examples only throw the good ones into stark relief. Another epiphany - we need to choose our leaders wisely. It matters.
As a small-business owner with a team of employees dependent on the bookshop for our supper, I felt the pain of these leaders as their budgets took a steep downturn, the queues of unemployed grew and we all wondered if the economy would ever recover. I’m not so biased by my health research background as to be impervious to the balancing act of lives vs livelihoods. It’s an impossible juggling act for any government but clear-sighted economists are correct when they say there can be no economic recovery without controlling the health crisis.
Watching the bookshop spring back to life post-Stage 4 has been not unlike watching a David Attenborough time-lapse of life returning to a parched desert after rain. On a purely micro level, the fact that the Mary Martin Bookshops continue to trade with our original team members (coupled with the fact that my sensibilities as a medical researcher, mother and daughter were completely in sync with the steps taken at both state and national level) suggest to me that in the main, our leaders got it right.
My much more personal insight was how books came into their own during our enforced house-bound restrictions. A means of escape, time passing, inspiration, entertainment, armchair travel, knowledge, enrichment: for many of us however, the mere act of holding pages between our fingers became a much-needed physical comfort. So many said, “I just can’t concentrate enough to lose myself in a book, but it is so comforting just holding one.” It is as though the mere chance of being enthralled by one was enough.
To be a bookseller during this time of crisis was a privilege. We were able to offer access to a commodity that meant so much to so many. Books became the companion the community counted on – even more than jigsaw puzzles! We were there with you and, more than that, you were there with us. As we strove to stay open and carry on, you as a community rallied around us, making the effort to support us and other local small businesses. It made all the difference and we are truly grateful.
We can’t thank you enough and are thus delighted to let you be the first to know that we have renewed our lease on Bay St and will be with you for at least another five years and hopefully many many more. Our Southgate shop stands firm and our Queen Victoria stall breathes again.
2020 has been a Rat of a year. Literally. The good news is that 2021 is the Year of the Ox. A no frills, no fuss, steadfast and plodding beast, 2021 by Chinese belief therefore portends to be a dull one. Hallelujah to that! It’s not for nothing that the most vehement Chinese curse one can hurl upon an enemy is to wish them 'an interesting life'. Dull sounds pretty wonderful to me!
So hang in there, and with a bit of lunar astrological luck, we can all plod alongside oxen toward a normality none of us will ever take for granted again.
Take care, stay safe,
As always - Jaye
P.S. No end-of-year blog is complete without a couple of Top 5 lists. Here are mine.
My Top 5 Podcasts
A tip: the 30 min you spend listening to the podcast ‘The Year of Little Griefs and How to Process Them’ may be the most valuable thing you can do for yourself in these next days.
Reply All - ‘The Case of the Missing Hit’
Alex Mann - ‘The Eleventh - On the Whitlam Dismissal’
The Tennis Podcast - ‘Tennis Re-lived’
Patrick Keefe - ‘Wind of Change’
No Filter - ‘The Year of Little Griefs and how to Process them’