02/04/2020
Be Kind...Please?
A big shout out for all the people still working and supporting us. We are sincerely grateful and can’t imagine what you are going through.
Whilst we truly appreciate what some professions are being called to do, I cannot help but exert extreme empathy for every other human being in my surrounding and greater community. We’re in 'unprecedented times'.
It’s acutely apparent, however, the need for human connection, consistency and normalcy is a ‘go to’ in times of stress. Is that not what we habitually preach as a society; keep things as normal as possible?
Please, I have no intention of disrespecting the hardship of what many are going through. I am first to applaud the workers and pray for the sick.
But can we just take a moment to express empathy to others and ourselves for the struggles we find ourselves in, being moved to safety out of society to the comfort of our homes?
Some may say the comfort of one's own mind is not so comforting!
Some may suffer four wall syndrome, some are more alone than ever. For some, a daily trip to the surf is what keeps their depression at bay. Some people are stuck in the middle of renovations or with people or neighbours they do not get along with.
For many, even if life and home are good, the highlight of the day is going to the mail box, to look for junk mail that they do not usually accept!
Our basic human right of pottering through the community has been snatched away. Not by government or leaders, but by this dreadful disease. We’ve rightly been forced to safety, but our minds do not necessarily feel safe. I spend the day looking for and sharing positivity, and seeking connection in other ways, but none of it negates the innate anxiety and emptiness I feel within. The struggle to be positive and grateful, and yet, living with the fear of catching and spreading the corona virus is a conflict I live with moment by moment.
And this is only the beginning. Don’t publicly shame and humiliate people for going on a walk at the beach, which is part of their mental health routine, or a deli owner who has one person sitting taking a rest, whilst a camera crew is filming them, where it’s likely that if you turned the camera around, there may be two people working side by side..? Everywhere I go there are people, just getting out. Yet we are reporting micro incidents and shaming individuals, when other positivity posts show groups of people congregating in front gardens or in news conferences not social distancing. A mandatory one and a half metres apart. It’s not even possible in the supermarket aisles, unless you file people in, one by one, in one direction. People are walking past each other; they just are. And let’s not start on the impossibility of social distancing in schools...
Getting fuel, buying essentials, hoping to see toilet paper, going to the doctor, normal daily activities find us now cagey and deeply suspicious. Alarmed on every front. So we make jokes, we laugh, we smile, to cover up the deep anxiety we feel and inept ability to manage ourselves and our minds in this uncertain time.
Some of us are jobless and not used to being unoccupied. As hard as it is, being a plumber, a health care worker, a shop assistant or any other essential service, at least their minds are occupied and they are not going stir crazy like some of us. (Please get some rest if you can, workers; you’re amazing.)
And, even before the risk of Covid-19, for some, meeting people daily at the dog park was the only meaningful human connection we got. And so it continues, at a safe distance of course!
I feel really awful for people stuck in hotel rooms or cabins. Yes, they need to be there, but it must not be easy. It would be horrid. In the grand scheme of life, it’s short and there’s hope of an end, but I cannot imagine how suffocating, dull, depressing, nauseating and anxiety ridden it would be. This is no-one's fault.
Yes we can blame and hurl accusations of fault when people err or seem spoilt. But let’s lead by example.
I have family members overseas who have been infected with Covid-19, and I know someone who died from it. We want to be safe, but safety until now typically came in numbers. Exert some clemency for adolescent behaviours. Be kind, understand, don’t judge. You have no idea what’s going on in a person's life, what they already have to deal with. Reach out, kindly educate, help, support and connect safely.
Most of all, allow others to love themselves and their weaknesses. Don’t focus on their failings. Help lift them back up, see what their needs are, and don’t forget to reach out yourself for support.
Finally, don’t be a bully.
Please write in the comments what you are finding most difficult; whether it’s job loss, isolation, financial constraint, crazed kids, too much work, lack of connection, loneliness, war with your mind, apathy, overeating, boredom, anxiety, fear or whatever you need to say.
Breathe a sigh of relief, it’s okay, you’re allowed to express it. 🙏🏻💜
1 Cor 16:13-14
Watch, stand fast in the faith, be brave, be strong. Let all that you do be done with love.
