Hope Notes: Alexander
“I went to sleep with gum in my mouth
and now there’s gum in my hair
and when I got out of bed this morning,
I tripped on the skateboard and
by mistake I dropped my sweater in the sink
while the water was running
and I could tell it was going to be
a terrible, horrible, no good, very bad day.”
Thus begins the story of Alexander, suffering through his bad day in a classic children’s book by Judith Viorst. Everything goes wrong. He decides, in the face of his troubles, that he’s going to move to Australia.
“There was kissing on TV and I hate kissing.” This kid would have strong feelings about Netflix.
Given the state of things, we might daydream of moving to South Korea or Germany or New Zealand instead of Australia. Our quarantine puts us in much the same spot as poor Alexander - powerless to run away, enduring the adult version of gum in our hair and getting smushed in the carpool.
It’s so important that we allow ourselves, and each other, to have bad days.
In trying so hard to hold it together for ourselves and our families, we can miss out on the wisdom of just “taking the loss” and letting a bad day happen. You’ve been in the same pajamas for a couple days? Your kid played Animal Crossing all morning instead of doing online school? Meh. Things are weird. Let it ride. The law of averages will kick in, and a better day will come around.
You can always just cut the gum out of your hair. I hear amateur punk haircuts are trendy now.
Road to Recovery
As of yesterday, there are at least 709,541 people worldwide who have tested positive for COVID-19 and have fully recovered. This is an increase of 199,055 since our last edition. (So, so close to 200,000 since last time!) An unknown number more have encountered the virus on their own and made a full recovery.
We hope for strength in the lives of those who are actively suffering right now, and we hope for resolve and ingenuity in the healthcare workers giving vital care. We hope as well for peace in the lives of everyone who has lost a loved one or friend in the midst of this crisis. Finally, we hope for patience in ourselves as we wait to understand how and when the restrictions and uncertainty of this moment may begin to ease.
Good Moves
How people are practicing generosity, ingenuity, and love around us right now.
MacGyver Time
Stories of epic improvisation.
Who knows how to set up temporary facilities that deal with tons of people coming and going? Concert promoters. They’ve banded together - yes, I said banded - as Live for Life to help build out temporary hospitals and other facilities.
Engineers in Turkey who usually work on everything from appliances to military equipment did what engineers do, building out a new ventilator design in 14 days.
No tennis court? No problem. This ladies’ singles match on two rooftops in Italy is just astounding to watch.
And Finally…
Your Zoom meetings have been missing a certain something, right? And you can’t figure out what that something might be? Maybe you need some goats:
Just don’t take it too far. If you find yourself kicking holes in the walls and eating your dish towels, you’ve crossed over to #goatlife and there’s no coming back.
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Be well, everyone.
- Michael
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