DOCTORS are in the very privileged position of being the one profession that virtually every single person listens to.
If a doctor tells you to do something then you tend to do it as you know that it’s probably for the best even though it will spoil your fun.
Whether it be good news or extremely bad, they have a way of delivering it that makes you feel somewhat chastened. In short, you know exactly where you are with a doctor.
This was very much the case with the former Chief Medical Officer Dr Catherine Calderwood when she helped deliver the Scottish Government's daily coronavirus updates alongside Nicola Sturgeon.
Calm and assured, she rattled through the grim daily death toll with authority and when she appeared on our TV screens telling us all to stay indoors and save lives, the vast majority of us did because we didn't want to let her down or her colleagues.
But then the illusion was shattered when she took a couple of weekends off with her family at their second home in the East Neuk of Fife.
Worse still, she appeared to have misled the Scottish Government when she was caught by claiming she only went to check on the property, only to admit she had been there the previous weekend too.
Hours later she had resigned, despite Ms Sturgeon's best efforts to defend her and keep her expertise in the fold.The whole affair was a sorry saga with the only acceptable outcome reached.
If she can't follow the rules then why should we? would have become a legitimate question with potentially fatal results.
Hopefully the affair will not knock Nicola Sturgeon off her stride as she has been an impressive presence so far during the pandemic, as indeed have most politicians who have put bitter rivalry to one side for the greater good and long may that continue.
The First Minister showed a particular touch of class when she sent her very best wishes to Boris Johnson and his family after he was admitted to intensive care after his coronavirus symptoms worsened.
She added that the whole of Scotland was also willing him on as he begun his fight and she was right. Regardless of your politics, the Prime Minister being admitted to intensive care was a shocking moment and best wishes flooded in from friend and political foe alike.
If one good thing comes out of this crisis, let's hope that many people have now re-discovered a sense of humanity and common decency that will remain.
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