Irving Fiske looking in the window of a bookstore, late 1980s.
Andrew McFarlin and Alice Lin at the time of their engagement, November,2016
It is almost SPRING!
Despite the Coronavirus and its fears and realities of illness and death, I am looking out the window at the beautiful sunlight, at the change in the "slant of light" as Emily Dickinson called it.
We all need to be cautious but not to despair.
Wash hands for 20 seconds with SOAP. Rub them and clean under the nails.
Wash counters with a solution of bleach -- dilute it 5 tablespoons to a gallon or 4 teaspoons to a quart. Or use a commercial disinfectant. I am not sure that vinegar will break the shell of the virus. But soap does.
Wash hand towels frequently.
Try to stay away from other people for now, especially if you're older- 65-70 or older.
Enjoy the world aright, as Thomas Traherne said... Love your life!
There is so much more information out there now, I have stopped trying to update this. Check the CDC site. DO NOT GET RID OF YOUR PETS! You're very unlikely to get the virus from them but for now, wash your hands after you pet or feed them. No one has the right to just dump pets that they took on and promised to care for. Thank you for adopting right now!
In Catalonia, the people cheer the doctors and medical personnel as they walk home through empty streets.
Here's a remarkable poem on this topic...
LOCKDOWN
Yes there is fear.
Yes there is isolation. Yes there is panic buying.
Yes there is sickness.
Yes there is even death.
But,
They say that in Wuhan after so many years of noise
You can hear the birds again.
They say that after just a few weeks of quiet
The sky is no longer thick with fumes
But blue and grey and clear.
They say that in the streets of Assisi
People are singing to each other
across the empty squares,
keeping their windows open
so that those who are alone
may hear the sounds of family around them.
They say that a hotel in the West of Ireland
Is offering free meals and delivery to the housebound.
Today a young woman I know
is busy spreading fliers with her number
through the neighbourhood
So that the elders may have someone to call on.
Today Churches, Synagogues, Mosques and Temples
are preparing to welcome
and shelter the homeless, the sick, the weary
All over the world people are slowing down and reflecting
All over the world people are looking at their neighbours in a new way
All over the world people are waking up to a new reality
To how big we really are.
To how little control we really have.
To what really matters.
To Love.
So we pray and we remember that
Yes there is fear.
But there does not have to be hate.
Yes there is isolation.
But there does not have to be loneliness.
Yes there is panic buying.
But there does not have to be meanness.
Yes there is sickness.
But there does not have to be disease of the soul
Yes there is even death.
But there can always be a rebirth of love.
Wake to the choices you make as to how to live now.
Today, breathe.
Listen, behind the factory noises of your panic
The birds are singing again
The sky is clearing,
Spring is coming,
And we are always encompassed by Love.
Open the windows of your soul
And though you may not be able
to touch across the empty square,
Sing.
Fr. Richard Hendrick, OFM
March 13 2020
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