‘Terrible toll’: Shopkeeper’s epic Covid note

As the country grapples with widespread lockdowns and hostile anti-vaccine protests, the business owner stuck the note to the window of O’Henry Big Menswear in Balwyn in Melbourne’s inner-eastern suburbs.“We’re living through times where fear and mistrust have replaced hope and open-mindedness, despair and isolation have replaced joy and community and for many it has becoming tragically all too much,” the note read.“Nobody knows what anybody else is going through, feeling or dealing with and yet if they hold differing views to yours concerning the current world situation they are treated as the enemy.“How did we get to this diabolical situation?”Victoria recorded 76 new locally acquired Covid-19 cases on Monday, with 31 new mystery cases emerging. The latest outbreak brought upon by the Covid-19 Delta variant plunged Victoria into lockdown in early August.Melbourne faces some of the strictest restrictions including a 9pm-5am curfew and a ban on children’s playgrounds.And it is still unclear how long the harsh measures will be around, with the lockdown extended beyond September 2.The Balwyn shopkeeper questioned the toll the lockdown was having on everyone. “More importantly what can be done to rectify it or to at least stop making it worse?” the note went on. “I am but a humble shopkeeper and don’t profess to be terribly wise but I can see and feel the terrible toll that it is taking on us all.“Pro-vax, anti-vax, pro-mask, anti-mask, pro-lockdown, anti-lockdown etc, it’s time we all realised that we all have the right to our own opinion and try to be more tolerant of each other.“Remember, just because two people argue, it doesn’t mean that either of them is right.”In an amusing end to the note, the writer then apologised to a person who had opposed his “previous message”, admitting he swore at them and should be “practising what I preach. Sorry”.