Contemplations in the times of Corona
When bad things happened to innocent people when I was young,
in mostly other parts of the country or world,
like a natural disaster, disease outbreak or act of needless violence
I would secretly ache and wonder — Why?
Almost as if she read my sorrow or was responding to her own, my mother used to mention something my grandfather from their small village in India used to tell her when she was a child. Sometimes when Mother Earth becomes weighed down, too burdened, he said. She must shake off what she can no longer hold, what she cannot sustain.
It wasn’t a justification or judgement. It wasn’t fair. It just was. Is.
A force larger than we might ever truly know.
That way of seeing and understanding didn’t ease my heart break or halt my tears.
But called me to surrender to it and something larger, for a moment.
In a dizzying world filled with uncertainties and random acts of the Universe,
where what happened never seemed logical by our standards, or just
by any stretch.
Now, in this time of a new threat to human life across the globe,
here, there, and in all our parts,
when we retreat to our shelters just waiting for……
I have so many questions for Mother Earth and the Universe.
Why?
Why so much pain and suffering?
Was the burden of the way we are living and using you just too much to bear?
Was this the only way to get us to listen to you,
to truly hear the passionate, wiser ones raising their voices for you and bringing attention to the broken systems that persist in tearing you down?
Could only a forced isolation, a lockdown allow you to rest
and invite respect and gratitude for what you provide?
Will limiting us to our homes,
forcing us to distance, wash our hands and simplify,
compelling us to put thoughts of our elders and the most vulnerable among us first,
nudging us to express love and kindness for our communities, ourselves in new and real ways,
turning us to face our deepest anxieties and fears,
urging us to rethink and dismantle old normals,
and rallying us to work together, across all varieties of difference to address this,
will that help you unload
what you must?
Could we have made these shifts without your shaking?
Would we have?
I wish I could say that we would have…
As I try and assure my young son that things will get better eventually,
and I know it will,
my head doubts, questions and feeds my discontent.
My heart both expands and contracts as I work through all that is happening.
I hope that Mother Earth will regain the strength
to hold all of us again soon.
Until she does,
may we all be given the courage to
navigate the hardships we encounter,
support, bring care and goodness as best as we can, to the humans around us,
work together to think differently, find solutions with creativity, open minds, and a sense of humor,
celebrate those small victories, those days that are not so bad,
love on ourselves and each other harder than ever before (at a safe distance and with clean hands!), and
Together, may we heal those deep things
into a new, lighter way of being.
For all of our sakes.
Ours and Hers.
May it be so.
