Hope Notes: The 800
When our son was in high school, he ran track and cross country. That wasn’t my world, so I had a lot of learning to do as a parent and fan.
This week I’m remembering that he competed well in what they called “the middle distances” - and the 800-meter race is a perfect example. It’s too long to run at a full sprint, but not long enough to settle into a distance running pace. Finding the right pace in the 800 is a big challenge for runners.
Right now I feel like we’re all running an 800 together. It’s hard to judge how we pace ourselves emotionally through this experience, especially as we get word of loved ones and people we admire who are suffering through this illness.
With each week, we revisit the question of how long we can keep up the conditions of quarantine, with all that means for society. We don’t really want to settle in for a long distance. But we’ve passed the point of considering this a sprint.
In his book Born To Run, Christopher McDougall argues that the unique gift of human beings is that we can run at a decent speed all day. We’re not the fastest animals around. Instead, we have a helpful combination of pace and endurance.
I’m taking some comfort this week in the idea that our gifts of pace and endurance might apply beyond running. Besides, thinking of ourselves as runners might also help justify all the sweatpants and T-shirts we’re wearing these days.
Road to Recovery
As of yesterday, there are at least 510,486 people worldwide who have tested positive for COVID-19 and have fully recovered. This is an increase of 192,418 since our last edition. An unknown number more have encountered the virus on their own and made a full recovery. The number of people who have recovered just in the past week is about twice the maximum capacity of the Magic Kingdom at Disney World.
We hope for strength in those who are actively suffering right now, and 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. And we hope for patience in everyone who needs to keep up safety measures for a while longer in order to flatten the curve in our communities.
Good Moves
How people are practicing generosity, ingenuity, and love around us right now.
Off Their Plate is a grassroots effort to keep restaurants afloat by hiring them to make meals for healthcare workers. They’ve raised $2.2 million so far, which will supply 220,000 meals and generate $1.1 million in wages for restaurant staffs.
In prior issues I’ve shared some of the cool livestreams that folks are doing to help kids (and kids at heart) pass the time. Some bright folks went ahead and did the logical thing - they created a site where you can see a whole bunch of livestream options organized in one place. Behold, The Everywhere School:
This story from an ER doctor meeting up with one of her recovered patients is a couple screens long, and might be a little hard to read on your device. Sorry for that, but do find a way to read it if you can.
And Finally… (Supermix Edition)
This week I had too many fun videos and stories to choose just one. So I went to my editorial board, which is me, and asked for special permission to publish them all. By a narrow vote of 1-0 in favor, I got my way. Here we go….
You think YOU like ice cream? Watch this:
This Dad is a good singer, but around 0:50 into the video, this little girl takes the whole thing to another level:
You might have seen those videos of workers in Wuhan disinfecting the whole city. Same thing happens here in Philly, but with some local flair:
And while we’re on the subject of Philly local flair, you should meet Dolly Broadway, the unlikeliest star on TikTok. There’s, uh, some foul language involved, but I already said Philly, so you were warned:
It’s still weird out there, everybody. Stay safe.
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- Michael
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