Spreading the Virus
Wow I realize the many things I take for granted. The Giant salad bar, going out to eat, a lively, loud work environment, worship, and face to face meeting with you. This virus thing is disruptive. Now it’s getting to the point that I’m sick of hearing about it. Everywhere I turn, newspapers to TV news, it’s in your face. It can be overwhelming. The information age can take it’s toll.
It was nice to have a down day to catch up on reading and emails. It’s another thing to have a down week and possibly indefinite weeks. We can be thankful all the essential workers in the medical field, police, armed forces that will be on the job 24-7. But this virus thing has made me take stock of what is important and real. My health. I guess it starts there. Family, our home, and the safety of knowing I get paid regularly. That is a concern for many people, even here at church. Can we afford to pay our teachers if the Learning Center is closed and parents are not paying tuition?
How long can we continue?
I know that I can take things for granted. I can confuse mere inconveniences with real problems. This disruption has been good for me. I’ll use it to reboot, shuffle the deck and dig deeper into life. Noticing what a busy, defused life, misses. This virus makes me realize the interconnectedness of humanity. I know we are one, cerebrally, and this disruption, unfortunately, bears this out. I believe that all people, EVERYONE, NO EXCEPTIONS, are made in the image of God and are a brother or sister to me. We all come from the same common stock! Our faith tradition, in the story of Adam and Eve, speaks of this interconnectedness. Jews, Hindus, Muslims, Roman Catholics, Atheists…all are brothers and sisters to me.
When I reach out to my friend in Australia, instead of me hearing his stories about brush fires, we both have virus stories, and toilet paper capers. We both are witnessing similar experiences. Japan, Korea, China, Germany, France….around the world we are having the similar experiences. We are feeling the same frustrations, and the stress of not knowing the end.
This interconnectedness experience started in Wuhan China, and has traveled around the world, touching rich and poor alike. It is a travesty that the poor, the refugees in camps, and the vulnerable that will pay the highest price. That reality makes me reflect on the interconnectedness that I don’t see. The interconnectedness that’s hard to see. The interconnectedness that I know to be true. The interconnectedness of my behavior. I waste food and energy, fail to turn off lights, fail to see that my lack of changing my lifestyle, causes sea levels to rise. We are interconnected, interconnected to my brothers and sisters, in ways that harm them. This interconnectedness works with love and grace too. Oh how our world needs to be sick with the virus of “Grace”. The virus of “giving people the benefit of the doubt”. The virus of “Community” not the virus of “Individualism”. The virus of “Love”. Spread these viruses.