In the Shelter: Finding a home in the world

My post this week was supposed to be about something else (sigh), but I just finished listening to Argentina president announcing that measures have been taken due to COVID-19 and we will also start a period with closed borders and social distance. I am sure each culture has its own challenges, but for us, Argentinian, the social distance is like being exiled because we kiss and hug a lot, even those we just met.

And we SHARE the “mate”.

I am sure you saw Pope Francis sipping “something“ with a straw from something that looks like a gourd or a wood cup… That’s “Yerba Mate” infusion and it is our “coffee”, we have it for breakfast, during the day, or what we invite our friends to. And yes, when in groups, we share the straw. It is part of our culture, what we grow up doing, it is probably the ultimate expression of how social we are.

And with the measures just announced commanding social distance, it seems that “our social being” is being ripped off from us.

But maybe not.

A few days ago, upon Phil’s blog reaching out to Karen, my BC colleague from England, I commented that maybe this pandemic was giving us The Best opportunity to show our humanity through kindness. What I was reflecting about when I wrote my comment was that instead of thinking that “we” could be the ones getting infected “BY” others, or that instead of complaining that “WE HAVE TO” be locked down and be mad for the concert or activity, etc. we are missing, -attitudes that denote selfishness-, we could turn that around and think that actually, with staying at home “WE ARE CARING” for the others, or that having in our hands the opportunity to make sure the others are safe, “WE ARE CARRYING IT AWAY”. These attitudes now speak about kindness.

How many times when something not pleasant is happening to us, we are grateful that we are the one having to go through it and not someone we love? Or how many times we wish we could take away the pain of someone we love and carry it ourselves? How about if we could have that “power” but actually with none of us being ill, just with small measures such as staying at home, and in the case of my folks, not kissing, not hugging, not sharing the mate, not complaining for cancel events, and so on. This is where I see that the COVID-19 pandemic is giving us The Best opportunity. By being safe ourselves, the others we love and the others we don’t even know, are safe too. I see this is a win-win situation, I don’t see any flaws on this.

By the way, the title of the post is the name of a book from Padraig O’Tuama, a young Irish poet that I like a lot. In his book, he has this phrase that sounds timely to me…

“…one night we told stories of a time when we realised ‘I will be able to measure my life before and after this moment’.”

I have faith in darkness, Loves
Cris