Interesting Times

My personal news shall be delayed for a bit longer, due to the global news. It's getting a lot of coverage. It's not personally scary for us youngins, but for all of us who have parents and older relatives and friends, it's still scary. And it's stressful, thinking about what is the right thing to do, day by day, and being on super high alert as we try and do our work.

I don't envy the officials that are in charge of making decisions right now. They are having to weigh the usefulness of certain measures against how disruptive the measures are, and when to implement them. And combat rumors and misinformation and panic and stress. And get the most important info out, and keep it from getting lost in the noise.

My practice teaching got canceled because all schools closed, so I drove 5 hours to Chicago and back two days later for nothing. And packed for nothing, and now have to unpack and organize myself again. Lots of wasted energy, but that's a very small inconvenience, many people are facing bigger ones.

Hey, on the plus side, I get to actually have a vacation. I was planning on working through spring break at my practice teaching site, like I did last year, but I can't, so I actually get a week off. Yay!

Though I don't know how long spring break is going to be. It seems possible, perhaps likely, that school will not reopen right away, though we'll still be sending homework packets for the kids to make sure they don't fall behind, when things do close down.

The closings and disruptions are something that can't be helped. But people there's an air of fear and stress o'er the land that isn't helping anything. What we need is solidarity and mutual support. Even if we're physically distancing ourselves, we need to stay in contact and supportive, not just of physical needs, but social and emotional. We are all human beings, we have things and people we love, we are in stressful and uncertain times. We fear the unknown, and that makes us close down and lash out. Like one of my kids who sees a spider, is afraid, and responds by trying to kill it. If you can, try to shift out of the fear. Stay alert, follow the protocols, stay safe. The spider isn't going to attack you, just leave it alone or get a teacher to catch it in a cup and let it outside.

At the very least, realize this is stressful and you need to try and take care of yourself mentally as much as physically. Stay connected (maybe via video chat rather than in person), do yoga, whatever works for you. Be careful, be informed, and be kind.

There is a quote, that is supposedly a traditional Chinese curse, but upon researching, appears to just be one of those things that got created anonymously and attributed to someone else: "May you live in interesting times." We are certainly doing that.

Stay safe out there. Your in my heart.

-Isaac