The world is sick but not in the way you think.
It was Monday, March 16 when we got the word. Work, which we had hoped would reopen the seventeenth, would be closed for two weeks.
That deadline has come and gone with no reopen date in sight. In fact, most of our country has shut down due to the pandemic. People are panicking, hoarding supplies, and genuinely lost. They are fearful for their lives.
Who can blame them?
Most of the television news reports list new cases, and rising death tolls. They use phrases like “a glimmer of hope” to scare us.
And that is exactly what they are doing, scaring people. How many people have died of other illnesses in 3 months? I’m pretty sure it’s more than have passed away because of COVID-19.
Don’t hear me wrong, I’m not saying the current pandemic is not a problem. It is a problem, just not the apocalyptic nightmare that is being broadcast.
But in a way, our isolation is brining families, communities, and the world together.
The fast paced lives that we have become accustomed to have come to a screeching halt. We no longer have the option to over schedule ourselves and our children. Families are eating meals together for the first time in years.
We are talking to each other, taking walks around our neighborhoods, and sitting on the front porch with the loved ones with whom we are isolated. Longtime neighbors are meeting for the first time. We are bringing meals to front line workers (grocery store clerks, gas station attendants, Nurses, and Doctors), and hosting parades and celebrating them. We are treating each other like family instead of strangers.
Across the globe, people are reaching out to each other in encouragement. We are generously sharing our gifts, like song and humor freely just to make each other feel better in isolation. We are picking each other up instead of tearing each other down.
As I peer out at the world through my little peephole. I’m feeling better about the state of the world. Things we should have been doing for years is getting done. I pray the lessons we learn from this pandemic stay with us. Lessons, like the importance of close human connections, and remembering to slow down and appreciate life.
We are many people and many nations, but we are one world united.
The world is sick. Perhaps just not in the way we thought. Maybe the current pandemic is really a cure for a much stronger illness.