Finding meaning

What happens to relationships when social distancing keeps people apart? Or, forces people to be in each other’s space a little too much? What happens when the hustle-and-bustle of our days gets stripped away and we are left with just the basics? When there is no need for makeup, no need to put on a tie, no gym or coffee shops to escape to, do we finally learn to keep our own company? When the noises are gone, do we finally become better listeners?

I don’t have any medical advice to offer in this blog entry. Instead, I want to invite you to reflect on what social distancing has meant to you. Do you find yourself yearning for closeness? Do you feel lost and empty? Or perhaps you’ve discovered unexpected friendships and new ways to be together? When physical space is limited, do you feel trapped? Or do you breathe a sigh of relief as the world is forced to slow down to a more comfortable pace? Do you savor the stillness?

This is a lovely poem to meditate upon, by Brother Richard Hendrick:

Lockdown

Yes there is fear.
Yes there is isolation.
Yes there is panic buying.
Yes there is sickness.
Yes there is even death.
But,
They say that in Wuhan after so many years of noise
You can hear the birds again.
They say that after just a few weeks of quiet
The sky is no longer thick with fumes
But blue and grey and clear.
They say that in the streets of Assisi
People are singing to each other 
across the empty squares, 
keeping their windows open 
so that those who are alone 
may hear the sounds of family around them.
They say that a hotel in the West of Ireland
Is offering free meals and delivery to the housebound.
Today a young woman I know 
is busy spreading fliers with her number 
through the neighbourhood
So that the elders may have someone to call on.
Today Churches, Synagogues, Mosques and Temples 
are preparing to welcome 
and shelter the homeless, the sick, the weary
All over the world people are slowing down and reflecting
All over the world people are looking at their neighbours in a new way
All over the world people are waking up to a new reality
To how big we really are.
To how little control we really have.
To what really matters.
To Love.
So we pray and we remember that
Yes there is fear.
But there does not have to be hate.
Yes there is isolation.
But there does not have to be loneliness.
Yes there is panic buying.
But there does not have to be meanness.
Yes there is sickness.
But there does not have to be disease of the soul
Yes there is even death.
But there can always be a rebirth of love.
Wake to the choices you make as to how to live now.
Today, breathe.
Listen, behind the factory noises of your panic
The birds are singing again
The sky is clearing,
Spring is coming,
And we are always encompassed by Love.
Open the windows of your soul
And though you may not be able 
to touch across the empty square,
Sing.