B A L A N C E
I imagine right now a scale, with one side being order, and the other being chaos. We humans have done whatever we could over the course of history to keep that thing weighed heavily on order. …If there’s one thing we can do right now, all of us, is keep that scale as balanced as we can. If we let it, that scale can fall to chaos, the stuff of our worst nightmares and scenarios.
There will be unknowns and uncertainties. Let’s each do what we can to keep the scale balanced.
Keep calm.
Make schedules for the day.
Stick to aspects of our normal routines.
Laugh.
Sing.
See one another’s faces.
Go outside for a bit.
Be kind to other people.
Take deep breaths.
Offer love.
Keep the balance.
– Rabbi Evan Schulz
One day we’ll remember the hardest of times.
When distance meant love and it kept us alive.
May you feel safe
May you feel happy
May you feel safe
A Few Fragments of My Grief | Austin Kleon
1. “The trees are coming into leaf
Like something almost being said;
The recent buds relax and spread,
Their greenness is a kind of grief.”
2. “Such homeschooling! No homeschooler I know would voluntarily sign up for a homeschool devoid of libraries, parks, friend meetups, rousing trips to the coffee shop and long days at the museum.
Not to mention we’re all walking around like pale atlases, trying to hold up under the relentlessly grim news.
This isn’t homeschooling, this is HARD.”
3. “We’re feeling a number of different griefs. We feel the world has changed, and it has. We know this is temporary, but it doesn’t feel that way, and we realize things will be different…. Understanding the stages of grief is a start. But whenever I talk about the stages of grief, I have to remind people that the stages aren’t linear and may not happen in this order. It’s not a map but it provides some scaffolding for this unknown world. There’s denial, which we say a lot of early on: This virus won’t affect us. There’s anger: You’re making me stay home and taking away my activities. There’s bargaining: Okay, if I social distance for two weeks everything will be better, right? There’s sadness: I don’t know when this will end. And finally there’s acceptance. This is happening; I have to figure out how to proceed. Acceptance, as you might imagine, is where the power lies.”
