I realize the current pandemic has placed a strain on the lives of everyone. Marsha and I extend our thoughts and prayers to each of you. ~ Pat and Marsha
………..
Recently, as we were getting ready for bed, Marsha mused out loud, “I wonder if the Coronavirus will interfere with war.”
What a fascinating question.
Think about it. Where this virus interferes with our most basic patterns of behavior, perhaps it might also interfere with our more catastrophic behaviors, like waging war.
Whatever the case, there is no doubt it is stopping our world as we know it.
A stopped world is damn hard to accept.
The Times They Are A-Changing ~ Bob Dylan
Come gather ’round people
Wherever you roam
And admit that the waters
Around you have grown
And accept it that soon
You’ll be drenched to the bone.
If your time to you
Is worth savin’
Then you better start swimmin’
Or you’ll sink like a stone
For the times they are a-changin’.
This little bugger of a virus doesn’t care one whit about
- our routine,
- our important work,
- our age,
- our anything.
It doesn’t care whether any one of us lives or dies. It cares only about infecting us with its vile little nature.
Ugh.
And yet, even while that may be true Marsha’s question raises the possibility of other coexisting truths. Her question has evoked in me the need to stop — to watch, listen and reflect. To consider the possibility that this might be the perfect opportunity for a good, old fashioned, sit-down conversation with — God.
Amen.
I am reminded of the time, in 1983, when then Canadian governor general announced his retirement. I watched a television interview with him and remember a humble man, plainspoken, but very direct. About halfway through the interview the CBC correspondent asked him the simple question, “Now that you’re retired, how will you use your time?”
The governor general paused, then, with stunning clarity, looked into the camera and told the interviewer he realized he had gotten behind in his conversations with God and wanted to get caught up. To that end, he had decided to take a good, long while to just — listen.
Whammo!!
The CBC correspondent had the look of a deer caught in headlights of an oncoming car, and soon after terminated the interview.
I was stunned, everyone watching was stunned. What a strange, unscripted moment. Who had ever heard a public official speak with such candor and openness, about God, no less?
At the time I’d been on the run from my alcoholism. It had been tearing my life apart and I knew if I were to have a sit-down conversation with God, my life as I knew it would be over. I knew if I admitted I was alcoholic I’d have to change, and that terrified me.
So I didn’t.
Not until two years later when I got sober. But that interview sowed a seed that helped me to reach a point of readiness.
Marsha’s question struck me similarly, and a new conversation seems to have commenced.
- What will come of this conversation? I know not.
- What will the world look like on the other side? I know not.
- How will this change me? I know not.
I do know that this crisis also offers opportunity — to reflect, to strengthen the bonds of family and community, to listen, to act out of generosity and compassion. Maybe, in self-imposed isolation, we will learn how to reach out and be neighbors.
Just a thought…
Pat
Copyright © 2020 Patrick J. Moriarty. All Rights Reserved.
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