Sunday Musings - July 19, 2020
Capturing the moments
While listening to a 2016 rebroadcast of a conversation between Krista Tippett, the host, and Dr. Pauline Boss, professor emeritus at the University of Minnesota and author of several books on loss, grief, trauma and resilience I was thinking off the loss of moments while Iiving during the visit of Covid- 19. The dialectic is of course the necessary approach to exploring the myriad of thoughts and feelings related to living through and with the Covid-19 pandemic. There is painful loss of moments which never were and can never be. There are the moments one would normally have spent with a loved one as they were living their last moments. There are moments when one would normally gather with and celebrate the life of someone who has died. There are the moments when one usually joins friends and family to stretch hope all the way to the stars and beyond; moments when one would cry with pride as one’s very own graduate accepted that degree which signified survival of academic work, sports, parties and all that filled the hours, days, weeks, months and years of their college years; moments of celebrating anniversaries and birthdays with family and friends; moments of lazy times with friends and loversl; moments of shouting at sporting events; moments of absorbing food for the souls in the symphony hall and the art museum.
This very same visitor - Covid-19 - has allowed for moments of noticing all the “stuff” one has accumulated; moments of noticing that one often worked overtime to make it possible to purchase more stuff which led to purchasing a bigger house which led to more stuff which led to ...; moments of noticing how much you and the family can enjoy unplugged time together; moments of time for zoom calls or letter writing with those special friends with whom one has been meaning to reconnect; moments of remembering that education should be about the skills to build a better, safer, more loving world; moments to notice that all of nature has been patiently waiting for one’s attention; moment for noticing the magic which is all around; moments of finding our way home spiritually; moments of humble awareness that indeed we are powerless over other people, places and things; moments of rebirth; moments of knowing that we do not have to treat anyone as less then; moments of ‘knowing’ that racism, sexism and all the other forms of oppression have been woven into the fabric of our system and, if woven, can be rewoven into a tapestry of love for each other.
I would like to believe that us humans do not need darkness to experience the light; that when the darkness of Covid -19 has been defeated or controlled by a treatment or a vaccine we can remember the blessings of what we have learned during this visit of an unwelcome guest. We know, of course, that we can resolve to trust that when we make time for daily, honest spiritual reflection and walking the talk we do not need the darkness.
I am not suggesting that the God of one’s understanding delivered the darkness as a way of forcing us to learn. I do think that light and darkness are a dialectic which are always present. I think we have the choice to learn from the moments of darkness while embracing the moments of light. If we choose not to learn from the darkness or to fail to celebrate the light we too shall parish as have many so called civilizations of the past.
Written July 19, 2020
Jimmy F Pickett
coachpickett.org
Capturing the moments
While listening to a 2016 rebroadcast of a conversation between Krista Tippett, the host, and Dr. Pauline Boss, professor emeritus at the University of Minnesota and author of several books on loss, grief, trauma and resilience I was thinking off the loss of moments while Iiving during the visit of Covid- 19. The dialectic is of course the necessary approach to exploring the myriad of thoughts and feelings related to living through and with the Covid-19 pandemic. There is painful loss of moments which never were and can never be. There are the moments one would normally have spent with a loved one as they were living their last moments. There are moments when one would normally gather with and celebrate the life of someone who has died. There are the moments when one usually joins friends and family to stretch hope all the way to the stars and beyond; moments when one would cry with pride as one’s very own graduate accepted that degree which signified survival of academic work, sports, parties and all that filled the hours, days, weeks, months and years of their college years; moments of celebrating anniversaries and birthdays with family and friends; moments of lazy times with friends and loversl; moments of shouting at sporting events; moments of absorbing food for the souls in the symphony hall and the art museum.
This very same visitor - Covid-19 - has allowed for moments of noticing all the “stuff” one has accumulated; moments of noticing that one often worked overtime to make it possible to purchase more stuff which led to purchasing a bigger house which led to more stuff which led to ...; moments of noticing how much you and the family can enjoy unplugged time together; moments of time for zoom calls or letter writing with those special friends with whom one has been meaning to reconnect; moments of remembering that education should be about the skills to build a better, safer, more loving world; moments to notice that all of nature has been patiently waiting for one’s attention; moment for noticing the magic which is all around; moments of finding our way home spiritually; moments of humble awareness that indeed we are powerless over other people, places and things; moments of rebirth; moments of knowing that we do not have to treat anyone as less then; moments of ‘knowing’ that racism, sexism and all the other forms of oppression have been woven into the fabric of our system and, if woven, can be rewoven into a tapestry of love for each other.
I would like to believe that us humans do not need darkness to experience the light; that when the darkness of Covid -19 has been defeated or controlled by a treatment or a vaccine we can remember the blessings of what we have learned during this visit of an unwelcome guest. We know, of course, that we can resolve to trust that when we make time for daily, honest spiritual reflection and walking the talk we do not need the darkness.
I am not suggesting that the God of one’s understanding delivered the darkness as a way of forcing us to learn. I do think that light and darkness are a dialectic which are always present. I think we have the choice to learn from the moments of darkness while embracing the moments of light. If we choose not to learn from the darkness or to fail to celebrate the light we too shall parish as have many so called civilizations of the past.
Written July 19, 2020
Jimmy F Pickett
coachpickett.org
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