Come Together, Right Now
Especially now, we need to be expansive in our minds: Imagine ourselves beyond these walls we've built, joined as one in unity.
As we shrink back from infinitesimally tiny organism invisible to the eye, which threatens to conquer every common space across the planet, may we know the vastness of the sky and realize that spaciousness within ourselves.
Especially now, as we cut our vulnerable physical bodies off from that of every other person, in a time when so many of us in this highly polarized and divided society have become labels and even enemies to one another, as pawns to fearmongering so that our very humanity is compromised, may we reach out beyond the partisanship and embrace the very souls that surround us.
Follow the guidelines: Stay home. Cover each cough and sneeze. Wash your hands.
But write to friends. Text or e-mail people who may not have heard from in a while but care about. But above all, pick up the phone (you can wipe it down first) and call your mom, your daughter, your friend. Tell your son you love him. Reach out to your mom, to the buddy you haven't heard from in a while. Check in on your co-workers to see how they're handling this Surreal New World. Let them hear your voice.
And above all, listen. Listen. Listen. Because each voice is precious.
As humans, we have globalized our very existence, constantly making our world smaller, spreading our economics, our ideas, our hucksterism, our flora-fauna-bacteria-pollution and viruses. The pandemic has cornered us, seized us, quarantined us into our tiny spaces, where with hand sanitizers and constant hand washing, we antiseptically withdraw from family, friends and life itself. These are strange, solitary times when we feel somehow more at ease surrounded by our computers than fellow humans. And truly, these are the precautions we must take.
Unless we're hyper-vigilant, Covid-19 threatens to creep invisibly into every corner of our world, deep into our lungs, and cut off our very breath.
We remind ourselves to bleach out every surface and pull away from everyone (sometimes with neurotic excesses that would build a protective supply of toilet paper and face masks against the surrogate human "enemy" who we confuse with the true, invisible, spreading threat.)
Yet we need to break our common bread together. Beyond borders, beyond continents. We are one.
I'm extremely lucky to live in a community where we come together, especially in these sorry times, on the town common. Maintaining our distance of 6 feet or more, we sing. We dance. We laugh. We count our many, many blessings and consider all those we know who are less fortunate. We connect as we're able, raising our voices:
"Let union be in all our hearts,
Let all our hearts be joined as one.
We'll end the day as we began,
We'll end it all in pleasure.
Whack-folla-rolla-rye, too-ra-ly-o
Whack-folla-rolla-rye, too-ra-ly-o
Whack-folla-rolla-rye, too-ra-ly-o
When we're met together."
We must, in our hearts, in our souls, exhale, expand, extend our selves to our limits, express our voices, our infinite reach, toward the other, in defiance out beyond any boundary, to Make Our Better Selves Great Again, to empower life once more.
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