Let’s not go back.
After this is all over, let’s not go back.
To the way things were, that is.
Oh, we’ll go back to work, those of us who still have jobs. And we’ll go back to doing those things that Need To Be Done.
But let’s not go back to being self-centered and too busy and over-stressed.
Let’s allow ourselves to be profoundly moved by this experience.
Let’s keep looking out for the elderly and the vulnerable.
Let’s keep playing board games with our kids. Let’s read more books and laugh and enjoy ourselves.
Let’s stay home more and make home-cooked meals and enjoy time just hanging out with our family.
Yeah, there will still be jerks. The toilet-paper-and-hand-sanitizer-hoarder types. The ones who haven’t stayed self-isolated as they were asked (pleaded) to do. We’ve identified some of them now. They’re still around. But when all this is over, they won’t have the power to ruin as before.
Most of us--even the big companies--have found something different in ourselves. Something we weren’t certain we still had, perhaps. A gentleness. A kindness. A concern for others.
We have felt helpless together. We have celebrated the successes others have had. We’ve laughed together. We shared information and commiserated with each other.
Does all that really have to stop at some point?
Really?
There’s still time.
It’s not over yet, and it might not be for quite a while, despite desperate efforts worldwide.
But when all this is over, would it be too much to hope that at least some of us have changed? Grown? Gotten better?
Perhaps that is my hope today. That whatever we learn from this experience, we will take the opportunity to change.
I hope.
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