By: Ali Elizabeth Turner
We are now three weeks into it, what could be with tongue-in-cheek referred to as our Collective Covid-19 Capers. Life has certainly been disrupted, but it seems like by the grace of God we have landed on our feet and are figuring out how to thrive in the new normal. Creativity has been coupled with generosity, communities are being formed online, Zoom has become a household word, and we are getting good at it. Personally, I have been in meetings that span states and continents, and am so very grateful for that technology.
I suppose I should get the “Corona Moments” out of the way first, because quite frankly, the “Crowning Moments” are just crushin’ it, and I would rather spend my words on the good stuff. I think the winner for the Corona Moment has to be the Speaker of the House obliquely threatening to impeach the President a second time because she doesn’t like the way he has handled the COVID-19 Crisis. She has had the gall to on the one hand to criticize the President for shutting down flights from China when COVID first began, and now has said, “But as the president fiddles, people are dying. And we just have to take every precaution,” she added. Given her recent performance during “Impeachment I”, I think her manifest definition of “precaution” is going to be interesting, at the very least, and at the most, straight up treacherous. Oh, and let’s not forget Planned Parenthood’s “outrage” over the killing of pre-born babies being curtailed during a time when people are dying. Epic.
Let’s talk now about the Crowning moments. People have showed up at hospital parking lots at shift change for what have been called “Park and Pray” events. Drivers flash their hazard lights, honk their horns, and others stand across the street with placards of all kinds indicating their support for the medical personnel who are putting their lives on the line every day they show up for work.
Dance studios have found away to keep their dancers dancin’ by providing online and livestream dance lessons. Whole families are dancing together as a result and are loving it. Letters are being written to long-term care facility residents to remind them they are loved. Parades have been formed by teachers to let their kids know that they are missed, and a girl’s sweet 16 was celebrated with a surprise parade of her friends. A couple had their wedding out in the street and danced while a few friends kept an appropriate distance from them and each other.
People are making cloth masks by the dozens, making meals for those in need and leaving them on the porch, and prayer chains are springing up everywhere via texts or social media. Speaking of social media, there have been the predictable rants, but so many more people are sending messages of hope. The Holocaust Museum has recorded of messages of grit and resilience gathered from the lives of those who endured the plague of anti-Semitism and have gone on to live brilliantly. All in all, we are doing well, I think, and while I know we are not through it yet, I do believe we will ultimately be able to smile when we look back and ask each other, “Sooo, what did you do during COVID?” Keep having Crowning Moments, and know that you help yourself and everyone around you when you do. God bless you and yours.
