Hope Notes: Waves
Stores are busy again. There are people sitting at outdoor tables at our neighborhood pub. People have gathered in the streets to protest, and people have gathered at pool parties. The wisdom of these choices is beside the point - they’re happening.
This was an invisible crisis from the start. Now, the invisibility cloak falls on the people who are not venturing out again. Can we see who’s missing?
Some of you have been reaching out to say that you are worried for your families and communities. You are sitting with serious concerns about your own health. You are caring for loved ones who would suffer from exposure to the virus.
For any of us with good reason to be careful, there is no first wave or second wave. There is only an eternal now of precaution.
This is the time to revisit those practices we started back in daffodil season. Reach out to your loved ones, your elders, your neighbors. Make sure they’re getting food and supplies. See if there’s anything you can do to lighten the load of the caregivers in your life.
If you are yourself a caregiver, or a vulnerable person, remember that all waves crest and recede. It’s their nature.
If you’ve noticed that you need to practice asking for help - so many of us do - this moment is another chance to do that. And if you’re not sure whom to ask, just ask me. You can reply to this email and it will come my way. I may need to refer your request onward to someone better equipped to help you, but I promise you will be heard.
Road to Recovery
As of yesterday, there are at least 3,451,521 people worldwide who have tested positive for COVID-19 and have fully recovered. This is an increase of 1,101,923 since our last Road to Recovery update two weeks ago. Over a million people! An unknown number more have encountered the virus on their own and made a full recovery.
We hope for strength in the lives of everyone who has lost a loved one or friend in the midst of this crisis. We hope for endurance in the lives of those who are actively suffering right now, especially those for whom recovery is taking a long time. We hope for good sense in everyone who is bursting out of their homes right now and trying to return to their normal lives.
Good Moves
How people are practicing generosity, ingenuity, and love around us right now.
It looks like this clinic happened before COVID - nobody is wearing masks, very close together - but this just turned up in my feed and I loved everything about it.
We’ve reported in prior editions on the Sikh groups feeding large numbers of people in New York and elsewhere. Here’s a closer look at how they do it, and why.
Someone on Twitter observed that Chef Andrés is just about running his own shadow government of social services at this point… here’s his latest adventure.
And Finally…
The sound on this video is a little screechy - sorry for that - but it’s only happening because THIS KID IS MOVING HIMSELF WITH A LEAF BLOWER.
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Be well, friends.
- Michael
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