Editor’s Introduction: This post was sent to us in April. Having just been vaccinated, we’d started moving about the world again and so several time-sensitive posts were delayed and are still queued. RIFF has several pandemic articles that recall the last year, and lessons learned, and challenges we continue to face.
June 18, 2021
605,915
This is today’s cumulative death count from Covid 19, in the US.
605,915 deaths from Covid.
Sit with that number for a moment.
In the 66 weeks since we began counting, we have had the equivalent of one 9/11 event every 3 and 1/3 days. That adds up to over 200 9/11 events as of April. This is both shocking and unbelievable. This is a loss not unlike those experienced in wartime. The world is not the same, and neither are we.
We wonder why we are exhausted. Why can’t we utilize this time to create and be productive? In the face of all that has befallen us, all we have coped with and adjusted to, it is no small wonder indeed that we can manage the day-to-day work of merely living. It is natural to desire a return to the life we knew before Covid. That world no longer exists.
We are grieving, our friends and relations, our way of living, our future and our past. Is it any wonder that we are shaken and devastated. It is how we need to be in the face of it all. This must be recognized as real and true. We find our lives are inverted. The landscape is so foreign. This accounts for our discomfort and profound lack of ease. Old patterns and ways of being no longer fit our world today.
We are creating a new way as we move forward, step by step. We are not at all the same, but we continue. We do our best to create calm and care for ourselves, each other, and our Earth. Let’s extend this tender consideration to all life, with respect and gentleness. Remembering what has passed away, we now make the world anew. Perhaps we are remembering the way it was intended to be.
“Tender consideration” is a most beautiful way of saying this. Thank you, Janet.
Peace.
Thank you Janet for this tender view of our plight . It.is not only tender but also reasonable transparent and hopeful. You see things with a world’s eye as if from above,scanning and bringing gathered information into focus!