COVID-19: We’re all in This Together
Amid the fear and confusion that have inevitably come up during these times of collective crisis, we are also hearing about and seeing acts of kindness, beauty, compassion and healing that are restoring many peoples’ faith in humanity. From all directions, we are shown examples–many each day–of our interdependence as we hear the refrain “We’re all in this together.”
Perhaps, on the other side of this, we will emerge with a felt sense of the truth of these words. Maybe we’ll wake up to the fact that the people we used to take for granted, or the ones we liked to think of as on the lower rungs or our society are, in fact, vitally important to the well-being of the whole country. In addition to the heroic nurses, doctors and first responders, look at the other heroic people we are depending on now, to keep things running for us: the grocery store clerks, the farmer workers, the caregivers, the truckers, electricians and plumbers, and so many more. Maybe this is serving as a wake-up call so that we can reevaluate how much dignity and respect we afford each other.
Will we value each other differently as a result of this unprecedented time? Can we see the sick and the poor as equally valuable to the rich and the famous? It’s possible that we will collectively come to the awareness that first nations peoples across the planet have held for millennia: that we are all an expression of the one God. We are all connected. I like to imagine what our world would look like if we behaved as if we knew that. How would we behave as a society if we knew that we are, indeed, all in this together? What policies and practices would we put into place, as communities and as a civilization, if we were aware of our inter-relatedness and our interdependence?
We are going through a difficult time and may for some while yet. It’s important to acknowledge the fear, the suffering and the loss that so many of us are experiencing and will experience throughout this ordeal. Many, like survivors of recent natural disasters, are experiencing the pandemic on top of many other crises in their lives. I pray that we can be there for them, that we all wake up to the fact that our society is not well unless every member of society is cared for.
Be there for each other. Take care of yourself and make sure you take all common-sense precautions to keep yourself and your loved ones well. And check in on your neighbors, especially people who are alone or who are elderly. We are not alone in this. We are in fact, and literally, all in this together.
