Thoughts in a Time of Pandemic

Covid-19 has distanced us but also brought us closer.  Though some populations are more at risk than others, we realize that we are all vulnerable, all mortal, all in need of the social fabric of nurses, shopkeepers, first responders, postal workers, teachers, check out clerks, and civil servants who in ordinary times we take for granted, but whose importance is manifest in moments like these.  We understand that “thinking globally” is more than a slogan but a public health necessity when fighting a virus that has no respect for borders or national boundaries.  We see the worst in people (not just panic hoarding of toilet paper but of guns and ammo) yet also the best, in millions of citizens quietly adapting and changing daily habits to guard the common good (reminding us of Camus’ words from The Plague that “what we learn in time of pestilence is that there is more in human nature to admire than to despise.”)  We’ve traded elbow bumps for handshakes.  We know that we are in this together, even when apart.  

Unlike 9/11, when frightened people packed their churches and synagogues, houses of worship like mine are temporarily empty.  But now, as then, our hearts are full: filled with a heightened awareness of our co-humanity, our interdependence, our resolve to be among the healers and the helpers who will ultimately see us through.