COVID

Up at 5 am. In the car by 5:30 am, commute the thirty miles to the gym, do my thing, cardio or weights, shower, and out – at my desk by eight, in time for my first meeting.

That was then—now—the office is gone, replaced by the home office, a bedroom, having belonged to one of my adult children, long ago departed for school and then off to raise their own family.

How would I have managed if they were young, at home, needing to attend school on Zoom? I can’t answer that. And I can’t imagine the challenges that a parent or a couple must experience having to balance this priority while providing for the ever-escalating demands of making a living.

I am blessed—good health and a job. But many out there are not so fortunate.

Over half a billion people dead of COVID is incomprehensible. The politicization, pitting one faction against another regarding a disease that we are all still learning about, allowed the vacuum that easily perpetuated the fear. To mask or not to mask? The idea that you should question what most medical experts advocate as the best defense against this deadly disease because you perceive it restricts your freedom is selfish. But we are a selfish society until it happens to us personally.

And the real question, as we crawl out of this devastation—what will we have learned?

The good people are helping others—a positive consequence of tragedy.

The ugly fear—leveraged by those with the voice to manipulate the vulnerable.

Having lost some freedoms temporarily, how much will we appreciate them when they return? More importantly, does this help us better understand and feel for those who have less or lost more through circumstances beyond their control?