This is the winter of our discontent.
We find ourselves under a cloud this year, separated from those we love, locked away, almost stretched beyond our abilities. Some of us are sick, all of us are weary. The miracle that might release us into the world —the vaccine—is some months away. Meanwhile, we have bumpy times ahead. I know two people who just tested positive for the virus. Vigilance is required.
I would not presume to diminish the physical toll COVID has taken on both its victims and the people who treat them. But I also worry about the mental and emotional toll the virus has taken on so many of us, beginning with the frontline workers and first responders who have seen so many people die. One hundred times as many as died on 9/11. It boggles the mind.
I understand the frustration this pandemic has taken—and the fear. I don’t understand the misplaced anger, the willful disregard of the health and safety of others, the dismissal of efforts to try, however imperfectly, to protect. It’s not just that such reactions fly in the face of reason and common sense. They negate empathy.
Empathy—a concern for the feelings and well-being of others—is presumed to be at the heart of this season. We collect coats and toys. We hand envelopes to service workers and donate to our charities in the glow of love and joy and the spirit of giving. If I thought my wishes counted for anything, I would wish that empathy invade each and every one of us in the next week and refuse to leave, so that we might think about, to sympathize with, even to feel with and for our fellow beings. It shouldn’t matter whether they are working in an emergency room or suffering alone, separated from loved ones temporarily or permanently, coping with too much responsibility or too little, carrying their wounds visibly or hidden away.
What to do? Not to state the obvious, but let’s be kind. To ourselves, to those around us, to people we don’t know, maybe even to people we don’t like, insofar as that’s possible. It’s within our control to be generous. At the end of the day, kindness is the the best possible gift we could give. Who knows? It could even become a habit.