The only thing that is certain during this time that we are living in is that so much is uncertain. It can be difficult to plan for the future when we have no idea what the future will entail. There is a considerable amount of anxiety and associated paralysis that accompanies this ambiguity and it reminds me of the stories I have read of patients with chronic illnesses. It somehow seems that individual members of our population are getting sick, and at the same time, our whole society is under siege by a dangerous disease.
The poem, “After a Long Illness” by Judith Harris, PhD was published in the March 3, 2020 issue of JAMA1. It resonated with me due to its imagery of a “fiery red cardinal” in the “colorless gray fog, when all struggles to survive,” what I saw as a metaphor for signs of life and vitality in a sea of death and sadness. But the cardinal is only there for an instant, as nothing is sure during this time. The way I see it, the fog is over all of us.
The prompt for this week is this:
“Write about possibilities.”
You have as much or as little time as you would like to take. See you next week.
References:
- Harris J. After a Long Illness. JAMA. 2020;323(9):897. doi:10.1001/jama.2019.21841
More unedited writing of mine. About all of the possibilities.
I see a lot of terrible things every day. Babies who are born with neonatal abstinence syndrome. Children who suffer from physical abuse at the hands of their caregivers. Life-threatening illnesses that take the lives of our youth much too soon. Refugees from war-torn countries whose families are thousands of miles away. Victims of our broken medical system who cannot afford basic healthcare.
And now, during this pandemic, it is all amplified. An invisible, life-threatening scourge circles the globe, wreaking havoc in its wake. Not only does it kill us, but it brings out all of our worst qualities – fear, intolerance, hatred, hubris. Nothing is certain in this time, especially not how we should proceed as humanity or how we will all decide to proceed.
I have been beaten down a lot this year. Not only in my personal and professional lives but when I see the decisions being made every day by our national leaders. I want to break down, to give up. To jettison my belief in the profound good that we can accomplish as human beings, as I see all of the terrible things that we do in the name of greed, power, and selfishness, but attribute to more noble causes. It might be easier to just give in, to believe that we are truly evil, use all of the available data to confirm my biases.
But the data does not point to wickedness. I see possibilities in the acts of kindness happening every day. Yes, many people have died. Many more are out of work with no safety net. Families are separated. Businesses are shuttering. Essential workers lack basic protective equipment. The cracks in fabric of our society have opened into chasms and swallowed us whole, along with our last shreds of sanity. And none of this should be minimized.
But I also see the good, those that are donating meals and protective equipment. All the innovation in education, in telemedicine, in vaccine development, in medical technology. The way that the medical community has come together to share information so rapidly when none exists through the more traditional channels. Even a change in our social interactions, as we let down the walls that have defined us so much in public. I can only hope that this innovation and desire for growth and improvement leads to positive changes in how we take care of our most vulnerable populations. I believe it is possible. It has to be.
Writing for Wellness 