Living in cornavirusworld

3/15

Living in Coronavirusworld

...another cost....

It was a beautiful warm spring-like day. A perfect day for a long slow walk. A sit in the park.  A bit of meditation. Felt perfectly normal. But with the underlying awareness that nothing is normal right now. A few weeks ago, I felt as if I was somewhere between normal life and the zombie apocalypse. In the last few days we’ve tilted in the direction of apocalypse. I keep imagining the early days of “Walking Dead” must have been something like this. Day by day my planned activities disappeared. This is truly unprecedented...never in my life have I experienced a day without sports. With all the shows also dark, I thought about some exhibits I’ve been wanting to visit but the museums are dark too. I simply don’t remember anything like this.

Yes. There was 9-11. But we gathered in churches. We got together and volunteered at Ground Zero, the ash-filled air not withstanding. We took our kids to the park and kept the soccer leagues going. Baseball resumed. Every instinct in times of crisis is to come together. Because we need one another. But we are cautioned not to. I am personally always inclined to go out in the world, regardless of what’s going on. But now a reasonable argument can be made that rules or no rules, the socially, even morally responsible thing to do is to stay in.   My boys worry about me because as an older man who has experienced cardio and pulmonary issues, I am at risk. But worse, I could endanger others.   All of us, potential Rudy Goberts. (The NBA player who tested positive after a cavalier attitude toward the disease and infected others.)

My son in Berlin tells me that everything in Berlin….schools. theaters, arenas, bars and restaurants….is closed for five weeks. Should  we do that here? The singers leaning from quarantined windows in Italy to sing with each other reminding me of Chile under martial law and curfew last fall. I have no confidence in my own government as I watch endless lines of  passengers returning from overseas crowed together waiting to be interviewed at O’Hare Airport, the very picture of risk. I have felt, and still feel, we’ve been making it all up as we go along. 

Do I go to my Sunday open mic tonight? The church held its last Friday night. And those who came, the regular community,  felt supported and sustained. But was this right?

The churches are closed. Worse, signs announce the food pantries are closed. As always, the poorest and most vulnerable will be the worst hit. I shudder thinking about the huddled masses in the refugee camps I have seen at our borders. Every border. No way to sanitize. 

I think of musician friends who supplement their income by working at Yankee Stadium.  Already this first soccer game was cancelled. Baseball not going to happen, at least for the foreseeable future. No way to replace lost income. I think of the unfathomable global economic impact of what is happening.

Another friend continues to celebrate Eucharist for the homeless in the parks. I will join him next week. So many choices to make every day.

People panic. I see people with arms loads of toilet paper at CVS and I want to scream, “What are you doing?” “What do you think is going to happen?”  Shelves empty in the stores. We create our own panic by living it out.  Another friend points out the outer boroughs seem to have more on the shelves. Manhattan has more wealth than the other boroughs. It takes available money to hoard.

Rock radio host Frankie Dee (the Real Radio Show- Fox News Radio) asked me last night what we should do. I said, “Don’t panic. Keep your head about you. Wash your hands. Drink water. Listen. Think. Don’t hoard toilet paper..leave some for the rest of us. Make a list of projects you can do. Stay in touch (metaphorically!) with each other. This too will pass.” He liked my answer.

Someone suggested we should treat this like a sabbath. A time to stop. To rest. To reflect. To break the ordinary patterns. To breathe. (And be thankful we can.) It is, after all, Lent. 

My son reminds me of an amazing reality…a small, minuscule, invisible bug can bring the whole world to a screeching halt. To its knees. Like the alien invaders of War of theWorlds…brought down by “bugs”….No mighty armies or weapons or hoarded wealth or toilet paper can stop the virus. Our actions can slow it, starve it. Or feed it. Not by might. Not by power..

This too shall pass. How do we live in the meantime?