Our Cloud

4/1/20

Keeping the journal. 

A wise recommendation during these coronavirus times by brother Rob.

We gathered via Zoom, the video conference app, as 33 membersubset of a larger  family, but this moment was the most populated gathering at one time in quite awhile.

The audio and video session was a hoot and comedic event. Engaging with the group provided an opportunity to acknowledge our mutual love and our status of social distancing during the 2020 pandemic.

A life threatening and disturbing time our world has not before experienced. Those who did are no longer with us. We are alone in this while appreciating even more the value of human connectedness. In whatever setting that preceded this new pandemic  world, social distancing is a dramatically different behavior for most members of our national and international society.

The seriousness of this global virus taking the shape of a tidal wave sweeping through country after country, state after state is clear. The Health Institute for Metrics and Evaluation based at the University of Washington indicates that as of 3/30/20, the United States will peak its need for hospital beds, ICU beds and ventilators when we are experiencing a weeklong loss of American life of roughly 2,000 lives a day. A day .For seven consecutive days.

HIME projects 84,141 total US deaths by August, 4 2020. Serious projected outcomes of death that will grow exponentially if we as a society fail to live according to recommendations now made by our federal government at the behest of many of the best scientific minds specializing in understanding viruses and their breadth of implications. An element of those governmental advisories is social distancing.

Avoid others.

No gatherings of groups. 

Without seeking to demean the families experiencing far worse than social distancing as they venture through this pandemic with affected family members and friends, the social distancing is simply another lens by which people will adjust. The babies who can’t hug or kiss or cuddle with their possibly affected Moms and Dads. The loved ones who die alone. The mothers who deliver new life alone. The emergency workers who never go home. We have changed forever as a global society. Where were you for the pandemic? It will be a known answer for everyone within striking age to recall.

My six year old grandson will recall. This will be the time he read Harry Potter books, built forts,participated in Zoom facilitated group conversations with the rest of his valued classmates, and wished his grandfather Happy Birthday- singing over Facetime with his siblings, his cousins, his Yaya, his Aunt Cara and Uncle Sean. He was the one to ask “When this pandemic moves to another state, will you all come over to my house?” How young will the recall be? Younger than 9/11; younger than JFK’s assasination. Younger than Columbine and Sandy Hook Elementary School. Human trauma.

This pandemic is different. The virus is not just human trauma but human death. Large numbers. Bigger than Vietnam military caualties of 58,000. Bigger than anything we as a world have ever experienced. Pandemics that have preceded 2020, were distinctly different eras of our world and society. Today we are linked through technology and a more globally integrated society. Neither was the case in prior centuries.

A buzz word of today is pivot. Often used to describe a politician re-directing a difficult question to a different focus during the reply. The Coronavirus caused pandemic will do its damage and there will be a new world order as the virus tapers while never leaving – always becoming something else. We will pivot. We will adjust to a new way of living.

Our national society becomes more virtually connected. We will have to re- create the physical connection. Casual hugging and kissing, no longer? Greetings formal and informal will change. We will still hug. We will still kiss. We will be more mindful in our actions. Will buzzer-beating winning teams not jump into each other’s arms with exploding perspiration? Will greetings and congratulations, condolences and love expressions be modified to the detriment of our being? Will simple hellos no longer involve a handshake?

A changed world. Yet, one in which life prevails and moves forward. Some of us will make that journey. Not all. More of us will make that journey if we all follow the guidelines of health experts. To live through this we need to defeat the virus’ progress. We do that by disengaging from as many people as we possibly can for as long as we are so instructed by these health professionals. 

More of us survive if more of us “stay home”. We will then recover from this pandemic and reconstruct our world and our personal worlds.

Our passing cloud is upon us now. The silver lining will be better known in the future. Recognize the cloud is genuine and we have responsibilities with our fellow man/woman to practice recommended behaviors. Understand the hurt is deeper for those most impacted by the virus. Believe there is a a new light to be seen when the cloud eventually passes. It will.

Keep your journal. Stay healthy in mind, heart, soul and body. Adjust and adhere to the guidelines..

With love for all of us…