A year ago, I naively thought the March 11th shutdown would last two weeks. There was disappointment (mostly about being pregnant and home with a toddler while it rained all day), but I was able to overcome these frustrations with relishing in time together at home - pancakes in the morning, walks around the block after dinner, online church on Sunday morning, Zoom games with friends. The fear in the lack of supplies - toilet paper and sanitizer - the wiping down of every item that crossed the front stoop - now feels like child's play compared to what was to come. We didn't know all that 2020 would hand us - a front row seat to understanding the nuances of Privilege; the radical division in our country rooted in an age of Information Confirmation; the global effects of narcissistic, evil leadership; and the deep grief that so many families have faced in the wake of death, unemployment, lack of childcare, and closed businesses. The inner work we have been forced to undergo shakes us to the core of our humanity - our identity - who we are, and what life is all about. From then until now, I have also seen the resilience of humanity - the rise-to-the-occasion attitude we can shield ourselves within - and the ability to choose joy and believe goodness despite circumstances. And that, is truly remarkable. If anything, we have learned that we still have a long road to walk to become the America we all believe we can be - the America that provides equal rights to all without bias to skin color and the America that can truly unify under the flag. It will be long, it will be gritty, but it will be necessary if we want to provide a better world for the next generation.
March 11th, 2020 is the day the world got rocked, and a year later we are still living in the cracks of that quake. But, I do believe, we are broken before we can become whole. And perhaps that is the silver lining in all of it. Also, the vaccine. Thank God for that!
