The world as we knew it.
During this pandemic crisis, the globe has changed dramatically.
With the necessity of social distancing we have become a people of isolation and separation. The joy of strolling through the aisles casually reviewing and selecting from hundreds if not thousands of options, or popping by our favorite bakery to look at the delectable selections behind the glass has been replaced by a society of grab and go from the curbside.
Many of us still blessed enough to be able to work, are now relegated to seeing the world through a 15.6 inch viewing screen in the form of our laptop at our kitchen table.
And many of the daily challenges that every day people faced in silence on their own, are now in many ways being dealt with in a very prominent and public way:
Thousands of school-aged children that survived from one school lunch to the next now stand with their families openly seeking their next meal.
Those that used their job or a mandatory education to escape a harsh and abusive family environment are now left with little or no escape from the turmoil and the violence of their home situation.
And in the realm of mental health, those who survived trauma and abuse and violence in their lives and have learned to move on and to live on, now in many ways revisit that trauma every day in the form of a surrealistic landscape of abandoned streets and storefronts, grocery stores crammed with shoppers wearing facemasks and gloves, and the fear of an unseen viral enemy that seems to be lurking behind every masked face.
And so many of the government agencies, local, statewide and federal, who for years have seemed to struggle to remember how to best serve the people that they support, now under the pressure of this crisis seem more lost and bewildered than ever before.
But if each of us, individually and as a society, can close our eyes and take a deep breath and allow the tension and the anxiety and the concern to just settle and wash away, we can open our eyes and our hearts and look around us and within us, and see so much more.
Millions of loving and caring families around the world, being forced together by necessity, have reconnected and have been reminded of the joy and the importance of family. The inability to step out and get whatever we need whenever we need it has given many of us a glowing and wonderful reminder of how blessed we are to have what we do have, and the simple joys of those simple things that matter the most.
And those that suffered before, whether it be from hunger or abuse and neglect, by necessity no longer need to, nor should have to, suffer through their struggles alone. Their hunger has become a public outcry of need; one that we can all step up to try and help fill, and a legacy of abuse and neglect that we can all step up to try and stop.
In spite of the financial crisis that we all face, millions and millions of dollars, and tons of food has been donated to help support those people that are most in need.
Those once tedious jobs of facing the next sick patient, or stocking the next empty store shelf, or cleaning the next dirty room has become the occupations of heroes on the front lines. These everyday normal people face danger and death every day, selflessly given out of a tireless sense of responsibility, dedication to job, and a care and concern for their fellow human beings.
And now that the trains have slowed down, and the roads have become empty, and the cities have become quiet, it’s easy to miss, but in many cities, fresh air has returned where once there was smog. In many communities, the noise of cars and traffic have been replaced by the sounds of geese returning for the season and birds chirping in neighborhood trees.
Yes, in many ways we have been reminded that we are not necessarily the Masters of this world, but in reality just another guest being given a place to live, and to dwell, and to thrive.
And although there are frustrated people and many a tense moment of struggle and strife and anxiety and concern, if we look around us, we can see all too evident the presence of the goodness of mankind. We can see our willingness and ability to reach out and help others; to touch others in spite of the social distancing to try and make someone else’s life a little bit better.
Yes it’s undoubtedly true that during this global pandemic crisis, the world has changed and I believe it is not yet finished changing.
But I also believe that this change does not have to be negative; It does not have to be threatening or overwhelmingly harsh and cruel. Though the negative elements are ever present and can so easily dominate our minds and our thoughts, we still have that glorious ability to choose. With this ability we can seek the positive, see the possibilities, and reconnect with what matters most in our lives and in this world that we call our home. We can see not only the possibility of a greater and grander future, but we can look around us, and maybe seeing clearly for the first time, choose those things that no longer work for us to remove them forever from weighing us down and holding us back. And we can look back, in many ways, to the way the world used to be when the air was cleaner and we lived more in balance with the natural world that was here before us.
