It does not take a pandemic to point out the realities of human nature and interaction. If nothing else, the current world situation, and how various authorities are responding, shows the vastness of interpretation, values and human reaction.
But what surfaces for me, is what I view as the ‘bigger truth.’
In this time of unknown, and even the authorities admit, THEY DON’T KNOW… we inhabitants of this good earth of ours are being called to a higher good.
We can look in any direction: social media, frequent BREAKING NEWS briefs, crowded supermarkets, yet oddly empty roadways… all indicators that “we aren’t in Kansas anymore…”
Listening to friends and families… their stories, their plights ~ each broadens the reality of what we are up against, even as more and more doors close…
What has struck me is, as human nature has it, how many people are striving to keep a positive attitude AND think of others, even as their own future hangs in the air… I am so encouraged by the creativity, the kindness, the proactive spirits, the generosity, the other-ness that our fellow humans are manifesting…
We will hear it again and again, we are in UNCHARTED territory… And not everyone is going to get everything right. And clearly, we will not all agree with every decision that is made, many which we’ll feel subjected to, as our ‘rights and freedoms’ are taken away…
But this is not about rights and freedom. It’s about doing what is RIGHT. To the best of our ability. It is about how we respond… even if ‘how we react’ isn’t something we’re always proud of…
We need each other. The path ahead does not clearly point us anywhere.
The only known we have is the assurance that we can take each moment as it is presented to us; knowing we have the freedom to choose our response. How much we decide to look out, perhaps even before we’re tempted to look in…
Because in the end, whether or not we agree with each other doesn’t matter… it’s more about how we take each others’ (figurative) hand and walk forward as best we can…