We are as relieved as anyone to hear news of the gradual opening up of some of the activities and businesses that were part of our pre Covid-19 everyday lives. So long as we can do it responsibly and safely, we can’t wait to get back to “normal”. What will we do first: go out for lunch, plan a big party, get our hair cut?
What we are going through is a huge social experiment. Can we willingly make huge changes and sacrifices for the greater good? And it looks like we can. There have been costs — huge costs — but it appears the curve is being flattened and there is hope for a loosening of our restrictions.
But as we go back to “life as usual”, can we take with us that willingness to change? Can we reflect on what has been good about this experience and imagine going back to a new and improved normal? May we suggest some things that we might hang onto:
- our ability to be selfless
- the value of a good walk every day
- being more intentional about connecting with family and friends
- recognizing our dependency on those who serve us and remembering to thank them, to make sure they are safe and paid well
- the awareness of the need to look out for one another, and especially people who are poor, homeless, elderly, living so vulnerably on the edge
- more space for people, less for cars
- making sure everyone has enough
- gratitude for our leaders who have worked so hard, so well together, to chart for us a way
- remembering the greater good beyond us — socially, in our health care, in our care for the environment — and being part of the cause to protect it, to improve it.
Yes, a pandemic is a terrible thing. People have suffered, lives have been lost, the burden of our disrupted routines for many has been enormous. But there have been beautiful parts to it as well — heroic acts of service by so many people, support for neighbours, wonderful expressions of thanks, and the reminder through the worst of it that God is good, and that we are never alone.
Wishing you a good recovery,
Revs. Helen and Bob Smith