Were it not for COVID, I had many ideas for today. Some were indoor, some were outdoor, all involved close contact with other humans. The Omicron Surge is just being felt here in Southern Arizona; our hospitals' pain made the front page of the Sunday paper. It seems foolish to go anywhere unless I really have to.
I'm choosing to believe that this will pass and that I'll be able to use the tickets I cancelled for this weekend and finally be able to hug my grandkids... and the big kids who are raising them. Sons and daughters, all - we need hugs, and we need them as soon as possible.
Thus, my acts of service must be less intimate. I'm not up to doing an outdoor clean up project, but I can walk on Christina-Taylor's path and leave kind thoughts, in chalk, on the pavement as I go. Maybe it will brighten someone's day.
I can drop off the Cuters' baby clothes at the Diaper Bank, and the why did I buy this foodstuffs at the Food Bank around the corner. My cast offs can be someone else's treasure.
I'll finish the shredding and recycling and donating that Queen T and I created during the Great Garage Clean Up. She said she did it as an act of service to me - so that I wouldn't trip over the obstacle course I had created over the years. I owe it to her to complete the remaining tasks.
I'll write an email and make a phone call to Senator Sinema, wondering why she won't support voting rights. I'll send a check to Giffords. I'll call Gov. Ducey and tell him just how wrong he is on oh, so many things. I'll send Mark Kelly a note, telling him all the ways he makes us proud to call him ours.
I'll celebrate Little Cuter's night-before-her-new-job, and I'll read some more of The 1619 Project, because there's always more to learn. I'll think about the promise of America and how it seems to be slipping through our fingertips. Nikole Hannah-Jones and her collaborators provide a new touchstone from which to survey the scene.
Finding out that my history lessons from the 1960's are flawed is not a surprise. The gaps in my supposedly excellent suburban education are far greater than I knew. I'm looking at the world through an altered lens. Today seems a good day to reflect on that.
COVID has both made helping others a bit difficult but also more necessary. If each of us could do what little we can the world will be better off. That may be my Pollyanna hat talking, but it's what I choose to believe.
ReplyDeleteHey, Pollyanna, I'm right there with you! Making my little corner out the world a better place, anyway I can
Deletea/b
Sounds like you are getting back in sync with what you can do. This whole pandemic thing is now making me crazy. This should not be happening now if everyone had gotten their vaccination, and if they don't want to be vaccinated, then they shouldn't be allowed to use the hospitals. I'm getting mean. I am back at school, and getting lots of hugs, as I feel that is where I am needed right now. Children and staff need the consistency and love that I bring. I surround those days with lots of prayer.
ReplyDeleteNow I feel guilty. I didn't even consider doing a day of service. I did help clean my own house and do the laundry and I'll cook us dinner, Pozole. I'll either go for a short walk - short is all I can do now - or ride my stationary bike. I'm trying my best to keep myself going so others won't have to take care of me. Two weeks now until my aortic valve replacement. I'll be going into lock down after I get a haircut and go to PT tomorrow.
ReplyDeleteThank you for your political action. Sen. Sinema is not on my nice list.