There are certain indelible moments in history after which there exists only a distinct and impenetrable "before" and "after." I still remember that bewildering day I went to school having watched the footage of a plane crashing into an office tower flashing across every television station. I remember watching my teachers' ashen faces, their eyes red and swollen, as we sat mostly in silence that day, trying to maintain a pathetic semblance of normalcy. At that age I did not have the maturity to navigate or comprehend what was happening around me but what was apparent to me even then was a definitive sense that an innocence had somehow been irrevocably lost and that going forward things would never be the same. I was right of course and now, some 19 years out from the incident, we still complete the rituals of taking our shoes off for airport security, downing our water bottles hastily before we reach the head of the line to pull out our electronics and toiletries in their miniature TSA approved receptacles.
We are witnessing yet another such moment in history with the ongoing COVID 19 pandemic. Likely never before have we experienced such a total upheaval of daily life, the literal shutting down of every aspect of being as we have known it, from our ability to earn a livelihood, worship our higher power as we are accustomed to, source out necessities, or enjoy our leisure. We have lost even those most fundamental aspects of our humanity from the healing power of physical touch to the gentle reassurance of a smile, handicapped as we are by the very masks needed to protect us.
Early on in the pandemic it was easy to glean hope by focusing on what all we could gain, rather than what we had lost, from this time of forced repose. Families were spending more time with each other, people were cultivating new hobbies and skills, and the interest in physical activity, if nothing more than a thinly veiled excuse to escape the four walls of home, was sky high. Months in however it becomes harder and harder to focus on these silver linings, so far and few in between the ominous and ever-present threat of uncertainty and anxiety without a reprieve in sight. And in true proverbial fashion "when it rains, it pours" as the ugly scourges of racism, bigotry, violence, privilege and inequality all rear their ugly heads.
On this day, whatever number it is of this mess, I have only one message for you all. What doesn't kill you only makes you stronger and you all are definitely much stronger than you likely give yourselves credit for. I know I certainly am. Be kind to one another and take care of each other because this is all we've got.
We are witnessing yet another such moment in history with the ongoing COVID 19 pandemic. Likely never before have we experienced such a total upheaval of daily life, the literal shutting down of every aspect of being as we have known it, from our ability to earn a livelihood, worship our higher power as we are accustomed to, source out necessities, or enjoy our leisure. We have lost even those most fundamental aspects of our humanity from the healing power of physical touch to the gentle reassurance of a smile, handicapped as we are by the very masks needed to protect us.
Early on in the pandemic it was easy to glean hope by focusing on what all we could gain, rather than what we had lost, from this time of forced repose. Families were spending more time with each other, people were cultivating new hobbies and skills, and the interest in physical activity, if nothing more than a thinly veiled excuse to escape the four walls of home, was sky high. Months in however it becomes harder and harder to focus on these silver linings, so far and few in between the ominous and ever-present threat of uncertainty and anxiety without a reprieve in sight. And in true proverbial fashion "when it rains, it pours" as the ugly scourges of racism, bigotry, violence, privilege and inequality all rear their ugly heads.
On this day, whatever number it is of this mess, I have only one message for you all. What doesn't kill you only makes you stronger and you all are definitely much stronger than you likely give yourselves credit for. I know I certainly am. Be kind to one another and take care of each other because this is all we've got.
Posts
No comments:
Post a Comment