This is the question on everyone’s mind these days. Why this pandemic? What good can come out of this terrible illness? I can’t help but notice that this is happening during Lent, a time for penance and turning away from sin. We need to turn to God more than ever and seek His forgiveness for the secular way of the world. We cannot control the world, as much as we would like to.
Everyone is being rattled, emotionally, financially, and their security is being challenged. No one is immune from this virus, not the rich, the famous, the poor, not our families or our friends or neighbors. We are all in this together and we must think about the others the ones we don’t usually consider. This quiet time when we are forced to stay home provides us with a time to slow down and reflect on all the good things we have in our lives. This forced stay cation brings into focus things that we rarely observe.
Those people on the front lines of this pandemic, the doctors, nurses and other health professionals should be appreciated for their dedication to a risky job. The grocery store employees, restaurant employees and hourly workers who continue going to work and putting themselves at risk need to be thanked.
Those of us asked to stay home with our families to slow the progression of this disease are finding the new reality hard to cope with, but let’s stop thinking about ourselves and the inconvenience and know that we are doing the best thing for our families and others now. It is very hard to comply with the stay at home order but this coronavirus will go away sometime in the future, and hopefully we can come out of this with a better appreciation of our families and social connections. Right now, we can be thankful for the social media we can use to stay connected to our family and friends from a distance.
