Started writing this a week ago and got interrupted, and forgot about it. Figure I'll finish it up and post it
Tensions are running high. What week or month are we at in the pandemic?
I've been noticing it, bubbling beneath the surface, with several of the people I've interacted with recently. Anger at small things, depression, getting hurt more easily.
I try and avoid facebook like the plague, but I saw a post that was impactful. Someone saying, has anyone had people they know impacted by Covid? They were in an isolated town, and it still didn't feel real to them. But lots of people responded. So many have already lost family members, or had a serious scare, them going to the hospital. This is getting real for more and more people.
It's interesting to see, it's like some people are in a house that's on fire, looking out the window, at others, who's house is not yet on fire. The on fire people are yelling: you need to take precautions, it's going to spread! I didn't think it would either, but now it's too late! And the people not on fire are thinking: nah, it's not gonna happen to me. Or perhaps, they're just watching it on tv, and not even registering it as real. Meanwhile, the people with their houses on fire are watching these people, and feeling like they're in a whole different universe. But the ones looking see the flames licking at the base of the buildings, even those that are not yet on fire.
It's even more complicated though, because those people for whom it's not real yet, they're doing stuff that's putting others at risk. Like, they've got cinders in their shoes, and are walking around town over dry grass, setting fires without realizing it, and when others tell them they (might be) setting dangerous fires, they just ignore them. People living in extremely different worlds. There are even more worlds though. Some think it's real, but they think some shadowy organization is to blame. It feels surreal. But it is real.
What exactly it is, or rather how it works, we're still figuring out, but it is real. It's not necessary to go crazy with panic, and dread (I'd say that's actually counterproductive, leading to irrational actions) but it is useful to take level-headed precautions and have a heightened awareness and alertness.
It does not decrease the beauty of the spring coming into leaf all around us, or the laughter had with friends (over skype, perhaps). It doesn't have to stop us from taking moments for gratitude, or to reconnect with our core values and remind ourselves how we're living them. (a really powerful exercise I want to talk about and experiment with more some time.)
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