Some days my mind is so wound up in the tangles of troubles we are experiencing in our world today that I can’t concentrate. I feel off balance. Sad. Disturbed. Worried. Full of fear. What’s going to become of us?
We are all looking for positive ways to get through this scary and confusing time of a pandemic and all that comes from it. We continue to struggle with racial tensions, our individual responsibility for them, how to ameliorate them, in addition to how do we care for people in nursing homes, prisons, how do we educate our children, which monuments should we keep and which should we replace. Oh, and there’s also that thing about putting food on the table when you don’t have a job anymore.
I hear people asking a lot of questions. People pointing fingers. I’ve done some of that myself. I’ve also been pointing my finger at myself.
One of the big questions in my mind is why are people so adamant about individual rights at a time like this when a small personal sacrifice of wearing a mask can help? Why is that so hard?
In time of crisis it is necessary to work together and whatever the inconveniences, we need to support each other, instead of demanding individual freedoms. We must come together even more than we do in war. We must demonstrate solidarity. Let’s ask a lot of ourselves. Let’s dig down to find our individual greatness, strength, and respect for ourselves and others in order to beat this virus. Do it for the common good. Wear a mask and keep the required physical distance. And in the meantime, if you have the means, give to your local food bank or some other organization that helps people in your neighborhood who need it.
I am looking inside myself to find some ways to change my own behavior in order to allow for others to enjoy the freedoms I enjoy. I am working to educate myself about what it’s like to be a person of color, those who live without the privilege I have.
Reading books, articles, listening to podcasts, and joining in dialogue with others is helpful, but it is also very difficult because it’s work. It’s very painful personal work. I feel like mud is what runs (slogs) through my veins instead of blood. I feel it as a stomach ache. And I’m person who is known for how I laugh, and now I just feel ugly and depressed.
Sometimes I need a break from it. I crave a good escape novel or movie. A meal with friends and NOT talk about what’s going on. So I treat myself to a break. I walk on the beach with Greg and our dog. I paint. I listen to the birds. We watch the sunrise, the sunset. I take a nap. All good ways to restore and refresh.
What are you doing to make necessary changes so that we can live and love in health and harmony in our world? What are you doing to get through this turmoil?
I’m sincerely looking for answers.
We got a bird feeder and some gravity chairs for the back yard, and love to chat at sunset while sipping on a glass of wine and watch the birds. We don’t have Baja as a backyard:). I appreciate your passionate counsel to those selfish people who feel constrained by responsible living in a civil society, in the fashion of a Howard Beal screed to the world writ large….BUT, I’m resolved that there are people (many, I’m afraid) who will not tolerate altering their own behaviors for the well being of another.
So, a suggestion I have is to let loose of the notion that everyone will help, if only they could understand. Some people need to be steered clear of. Other’s will need to be constrained lest they be even more damaging than is the case now. You have a great aptitude for finding solicitude and harmony. Use that great empathy of yours to be with those who are helping and a joy to be with. We don’t have time to convert them all.
Thank you so much. Sometimes I get so worked up I can’t even think of the simplest thing. You are right that everyone is not going to help. We can’t win them all. I’ll look for the good and I know I’ll find a lot of it. Just like I can easily find in people like you! Thanks, Eric.