We are seeing our way through this coronavirus pandemic because so many selfless individuals are lighting the way.
The doctors, nurses, EMTs, respiratory therapists, lab technicians, nursing aides, pharmacists, mental health counselors, and every other person who has anything remotely to do with patient care and health is entrenched in this battle. Then there is the other group of essential workers. The grocery store workers, transit workers, law enforcement personnel, banking staff, delivery personnel and postal workers – all those in industries obvious and obscure – who help illuminate what has become a dismal world.
They are all one light for the many.
Each night I place a lantern on the porch to honor their sacrifice and the security they bring to this otherwise chaotic world. It burns for a few hours before the light goes out on it and another day.
The next day dawns and we begin again. These brave people, some we know personally but most we do not, don their masks, their protective gear, their gloves, and their resolve and head out into an environment seemingly normal on the surface, but simmering beneath with an invisible disease and the potential for disaster at every turn. I imagine some are much more frightened than others. Probably most are really scared. I am so appreciative of them.
I imagine in every home there is an underlying tension because we can’t see clearly the end to this nightmare. No one sees it – yet. What we see is an expanse of time – days running into one another, nights that are long and lonely for some. We have all the time in the world to finally do what we want, but no time at any moment to honor these newfound precious minutes and hours. Anxiety robs us of the opportunity of the moment. The unknown freezes us in a vice of darkness, doubt, and despondency.
But eventually, many lights will bathe us with a normalcy and a cadence of time and routine we will come to embrace and cherish in a post-pandemic world. Led by the many lights of those who are currently keeping society sane, each one of us will see our way out of this darkness.
Many lights for each one.