Trying times…and why they bring out our best
By DAVID HAMILTON
These are trying times … personally and professionally. We are being asked to stay home and maintain social distancing to protect ourselves and others – but we also must keep working, as we all have jobs and responsibilities that need attention.
The new normal is strange, challenging and overwhelming. It’s exhausting, being on Zoom calls all day, keeping immediate family healthy, educating our homebound children, doing the best we can to keep remote family safe and fed.
More than ever, our actions represent who we are as individuals, families and professionals. We’re all trying to survive the best we can while supporting our loved ones.
These are trying times … people we know are getting sick. Co-workers, acquaintances, friends, relatives, immediate family. This virus is everywhere, impacting everyone.
Sometimes it seems so far away, as we live in our suburban bubbles, worried about toilet paper, Netflix and if we should change from our pajamas to our sweatpants. Then it hits close to home. Suddenly a family member is sick. They are in the hospital. They are on a ventilator. They are no longer with us.
It is quick. It is horrifying. It is real. And everyone is alone – no family members allowed to say goodbye. As human beings, we need physical contact and support (yes, even me).
It makes you think. Ponder your own mortality. Why them? Why not me? Am I next?
There is fear. There is anger. There is uncertainty. But there is love and support as well.
These are trying times … but these are the times when you realize how kind people can be. How supportive people are. We hear stories of food hoarding and see people fighting over paper towels, but more often we witness acts of kindness.
We see people letting seniors go to the front of the supermarket line, to get them out of the store quickly and safely. We participate in drive-by birthdays, teacher caravans and homemade-mask assembly lines. We see people come together while remaining apart.
It’s heartening to see people support each other, even in their own times of need and loss.
These are trying times … but we will persevere. We will come out of this scarred but stronger. I strongly believe this. Through adversity, we will become stronger, as individuals and as communities.
I don’t know when we will all come together again, but I know that when we do, we will continue to strive to be safe, healthy and strong. And I know until then, we will support each other remotely however we can, physically and securely planted in our homes, with our eyes focused on the future.
Be safe. Always. Please.