I’ve been feeling a fair amount of stress around COVID-19 lately, and I’m sure I’m not alone. Seeing the U.S. confirmed cases count increase to the point we are now #1 in confirmed cases. Seeing the Florida confirmed cases grow, and there have now been four deaths in Pinellas County (more across the entire state).
And, of course, the only “action” we can take to help make this situation stop is … well … none at all. Or, not exactly. The “action” we can take to help is purposeful inaction. Stay at home.
But we are so used to busy lives. We have been used to filling every minute of our days with … something. Often work for those who can. Go Google “American citizens work harder than other countries.” You’ll find a ton of articles on the subject with a lot of data to support that idea. And then, I’m a teacher, so there’s a lot of quilting that goes along with that job. According to some you can never do enough.
So having lots of free time is hard. Social distancing is hard. Social distancing when you live alone is hard. (And I do want to recognize that social distancing within families and other groups that live together in a home is hard too, but it’s hard in different ways.)
I’ve been doing a decent job coping with the time. I’ve been having strong bouts of loneliness, but they are typically short-lived. Otherwise I’ve been filling my time with hobbies. My main preoccupation has been making art. And I’ve been making art I’m pretty proud of lately. (You can see some in these past posts: here, here, and here.
The COVID-19 crisis is scary and challenging. My 79-year-old Grandmother said she can’t remember anything like this. But as we go through this scary time, and in some ways we are seeing the worst in our country, I think we are at a monumental time of revolution.
The bad stuff that laying under (very thin) covers for decades are now exposed. In broad daylight.
Trump actually said, “We can not let the cure be worse than the problem.” With the problem being the stock market dropping and the cure being true social distancing for a few weeks.
Senator Ron Johnson (WI) would be Ok with 3.4% of the U.S. population dying in order to save the economy. (That’s nearly 11,500,000 people, folks!)
Those are very bleak examples. But in shining light on the dark, we can clear out those bad, rotten pieces. We can burn them. And from the ashes, the sparks of good stuff will arise and seed a new way for our society to run. Not one that works people to the bone in order to take advantage of them, but one that embraces our humanity and allows it to grow so that we can support one another and heal together.
So below is my hopeful painting. The picture isn’t great. There are sparkles in it.
