ALL IN THIS TOGETHER

Let’s show our best selves!

You may remember the hit song by The O’Jays, We're All in This Thing Together. With all that’s going on presently, this is truer than ever before. I have often written about how connected we all are. However, unless we are directly impacted by an event, we sometimes fail to see the connection. In my blog, Fall is Here, I gave examples of the way we sometimes go through life blissfully unaware of tragic events around the world, but in a twinkling of an eye all that can change when something hits home…and it certainly has with COVID-19.

There are many lessons to be learned from this season of our lives—good and bad. Emotions of anger, anxiety, fear, frustration, resentment, sorrow, and stress are unleashed. In my household, voices are raised in argument. What, I wonder, is triggering such a loud response in me? I believe, in part, that although I am wrapped in my security bubble, the link to others is undeniable. Seeing the despair and inequity this virus has caused, especially for the families with no food or livelihood has produced an anxiety in me for them.

How do you respond in times like these? Some of you are in cities where there were few fatal cases and are distanced from the problem. Others have been hit hard with losses in the family or among friends. This virus does not discriminate and can hit at anytime and anywhere, so we are all in this together. It should not take a catastrophe for us to really see and hear others. Referring to zoom connections, a friend said that we stare into each other as into mirrors, for we are mirrors of each other. I saw a plaque with the words, “Love and kindness are never wasted. They always make a difference. They bless the one who receives them, and they bless you—the giver.”

So, when laughter fills my home and peace reigns, I send out loving thoughts and good vibrations to everyone, praying for an early end to this crisis. It is also my prayer that we each continue to do our part in helping others in whatever way we can even after the crisis has passed. As we give with an outpouring of the other emotions, mastered by love, I hope we can truly realize our bond. The author Paul Coelho puts it this way, “Blessed are those who make people feel blessed.”