Can we hold fast to lessons learned?

Robert Glazer recently wrote in his Friday Forward Blog.

In time, we’ll see many silver linings come from this crisis [the Covid-19 Pandemic 2021]. One of the biggest is that this will compel us to reevaluate which relationships deserve our time and energy, and which obligations are not worth our time.

I hope this is true.  I hope that the possibility of a better world becomes our reality. It would be a tremendous blessing for all of us if we can make the silver lining of the pandemic a reality, but I wonder . . . will it happen?

This is my 83^rd year and I have experienced two other times in my life when I believed things would be different going forward as the result of a specific life situation.

In 1963, I was newly married and enjoying motherhood for the first time. My husband and I were living in Madrid, Spain – loving life, especially the slow pace of the Spanish culture. I remember thinking – and probably saying,

I will never get caught up in the constant hustle and bustle of life in the U.S. when we return.  I will live my life in the same unhurried way that we enjoy here. There is no reason to live that harried lifestyle. It is important to savor the moment and appreciate life to its fullest regardless of where we live.

I believed with all my heart that the slow and lovely lifestyle would be possible. I promised myself it would be so.

Who was I kidding?

When we returned home, the delightfully relaxed lifestyle we had enjoyed in Spain quickly faded and the frenetic effort to ‘get ahead’ took over! Spain and the life we had enjoyed became no more than a sweet memory.

We joined the rat race and ultimately became a divorce statistic along with so many others of my generation.

We promised, “to never forget” – but we did forget!

Life went on – then, on September 11, 2001, the world as we had known it changed suddenly.  Over 3000 people died in the attack on America by Osama Ben Laden and his terrorist regime. The country came to a stand still as we mourned the loss of so many and realized the warm cocoon of safety we had always taken for granted as Americans living in America was no longer our reality .

We came together as a country in a way that hadn’t happened since the end of WWII (1945). We vowed, as a nation, “to never forget.”  We believed that we would stand united once again and be better because of the tragedy . . . but  . . . we did forget, and far too quickly.

What happened to our humanity?

Today, we find ourselves in the middle of a world-wide pandemic, a country so politically divided that a civil dialogue among our political leaders is impossible. There is so much hatred demonstrated and vitriolic language used when speaking about President Trump that I continually wonder what happened to respect for the office and common decency to a fellow human being.

We are constantly bombarded with untruths on every subject through TV, online news, and social media to the extent that I trust nothing that I hear or read. I doubt that I am alone in that.

What happened to us as a society? Where did our humanity go?  How did we forget?

I want to believe that the silver lining of the pandemic will hold – that we will spend more time with our families and connect with our friends and not return to the busyness that has devoured our humanity over the past 19 years.

I want to believe that people will care about and respect each other again; that self-absorption and hatred of anyone who disagrees with an opinion will no longer be the norm; that trust, acceptance of differences, interesting/pleasant conversations, and laughter will abound; that honest, ethically-driven leaders will rise to the top and bring our wonderful country back to the land of the free and the brave; and that united families and communities will become our reality.

Can we find the silver lining of the pandemic and create a better world?

Can we make it so?

Every change begins with one step by one person, then another, and another.

Are you willing to take the first step and continue on the path to create a different and better world?

Am I?

Only time will tell.

I hope and pray with all my being that we will create a better world together – making the silver lining of the pandemic a reality.

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