March was to be a crazy busy month for our family with National Honor Society induction for Julia (postponed), Nicholas' senior hockey banquet (postponed), two dance competitions for Julia and Gianna (cancelled) and Confirmation for Gianna (postponed). In April we have a family vacation planned to Cancun and May is Nicholas and Julia's junior and senior high school proms as well as another dance competition for the girls.
My world has been feeling tremendously off kilter since the end of December...and I was starting to think that maybe...just maybe...things were looking better for March. But now? The world is dealing with the Coronavirus. I've been in denial thinking everyone was panicking and overreacting. But now I'm beginning to realize that's not actually the case. Not only are all our family events being cancelled, but my job is now being affected as we do domestic and international classroom training and
everything is postponed or cancelled indefinitely through May. So there goes my paycheck.
Anyway...I came across this article today and I feel it's the best one I've read so far about the virus. Absolutely there is tremendous disappointment, frustration and fear...but after reading the article it does help put it into some sort of perspective at least.
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This Can Be Our Finest Hour - But We Need All Of You
by Grown and Flown
For the vast majority of people nationwide and
worldwide, this virus is not about you. This is one of
those times in life, in history, when your actions are about something bigger.
They are about someone else. They are about something greater, a greater good
that you may not ever witness. A person you will save who you will never meet.
You may be healthy, and your kids may be
healthy. Your parents may be healthy. Everyone around you seems fine. And all
the things you planned and the 2020 spring you thought you were going to have has
been completely undone. You have to work from home. Your conference is
cancelled. Your semester is over. Your work is cancelled. It all seems fast,
and out-of-proportion and disorienting. You look at each action and think—but
it would be okay if I did that. It’s not
so big. We worked so hard. They would be so disappointed.
Your losses are real. Your disappointments are
real. Your hardships are real. I don’t mean to make light or to minimize the
difficulty ahead for you, your family or community.
But this isn’t like other illnesses and we
don’t get to act like it is. It’s more contagious, it’s more fatal—and most
importantly, even if it can be managed. It can’t be managed at a massive
scale—anywhere. We need this thing to move slowly enough for our collective
national and worldwide medical systems to hold the very ill so that all of the very ill can get taken care
of.
Because at this time of severe virus there are
also all of the other things that require care. There is still cancer, there
are still heart attacks, there are still car accidents, there are still
complicated births. And we need our medical systems to be able to hold us. And
we need to be responsible because our
medical systems are made up of people and these amazing
healthcare workers are a precious and
limited resource. They will rise to this occasion. They will work to
help you heal. They will work to save your mother or father or sister or baby.
But in order for that to happen we have very important work to do. ALL OF US.
So what is our work? Yes, you need to wash
your hands and stay home if you are sick. But the biggest work you can do is
expand your heart and your mind to see yourself and see your family as part of
a much bigger community that can have a massive—hugely
massive—impact on the lives of other people.
I remember the feeling of helplessness after
9/11 and after Hurricane Sandy. I remember how much people wanted to help. I
remember how much generosity of spirit there was about wanting to give, wanting
to be helpful, wanting to save lives. And many of you have had experiences
since then—whether it was a mass shooting, or the wildfires, or floods. There
have been times you have looked on and wondered how you could help. And now we
ALL have that chance.
