I’m sitting in my kitchen in Southern New Jersey in the Unites States. It’s around 1:30pm Eastern Standard Time on Sunday, March 15, 2020. We’re only a few days into the Coronavirus pandemic and no one is really quite sure what the future holds for us. Are we overreacting? Are we allowing fear to take control? Are we being reasonable? Or unreasonable? Have we acted too swiftly, or have we acted too late?
In my life, things have changed quite rapidly. The changes are minor, but nonetheless impactful. My children opted to stay home instead of go to their father’s house for the weekend. School will likely be closed for the next several weeks. In my business, calls for appointments have ceased and some of those who previously made them have canceled. My trip to Norway, scheduled for next month, was canceled. I purchased extra groceries. I wondered if we had enough toilet paper (and bought a pack just to be safe). As someone who mostly ignores the news and politics, I have spent roughly two hours a day over the past five days keeping up to date on news stories regarding the virus and its progression. In short, daily life has changed.
Could I have avoided these changes? Perhaps some, yes. But certainly not all. While I might be relatively unscathed, as of yet, but just because the coronavirus hasn’t caused any major damage to my life and those I love does not mean it hasn’t caused major damage to other people’s lives and loves.
Yes, presently, it is not incredibly deadly. However, it is still deadly. When we talk about statistics we make comparisons and I understand that is how we approach mass data. However, we have to remember that every number on a chart was a human being. It was someone’s child. Someone’s friend. Someone’s co-worker. Maybe someone’s parent, grandparent, partner, sibling, and the list goes on and on. These numbers represent human lives lost. And that is a major change for someone. Many someones. No, maybe you and I haven’t had to experience much change just yet from this pandemic. But some people have.
While we could all easily point fingers, criticize, complain, or even roll our eyes with how our cities, counties, school systems, states, countries, employers, etc. are handling this virus, maybe instead we could spend that energy on compassion. Because the reality is that this virus affects almost all of us in some way, whether it’s as small as your favorite restaurant being closed or as large as losing your loved one, we are all affected, even if we are not infected. And we are all in this together. No one knows how big or how devastating the after affects will be. We have not had a world crisis quite like this one in modern times. But what I do know about human beings is that we are all quite capable of loving and helping each other out - if we can open up our hearts and our minds to do so.
Change is inevitable in life. Some changes we make for ourselves and some are made for us. But it is what we do when change comes that matters the most. There is no doubt that this shift in our daily reality will create changes, whether minor or major, for all of us. Let’s, if we are capable, try to keep our hearts open to ourselves and others during this time especially. We’re just human beings after all, just trying to live life. A little compassion can go a long way.
Author: Erica Onofrio
Compassion tips:
Check on older neighbors, friends, and family members (if you are not infected).
Offer to babysit for children who are out of school and whose parents have to work (if you are able).
Reach out to loved ones near and far and see how they are feeling about the pandemic and what they’re doing to stay safe or how their daily life has changed.
Share books, recipes, favorite movie suggestions, etc., with those who are confined to their homes.
Send flowers to brighten up someone’s day.
Spend time outdoors in open spaces with friends and loved ones.
Hold space for others to talk about or process their feelings about the impact the virus is having on their life.