“Let us always meet each other with a smile,
for the smile is the beginning of love.”
- Mother Teresa
“What a cutie,” I said as I approached a portly woman walking her dog, on my bike.
Hmmm – could a woman actually be walking her dog on my bike? I think not! Better said, as I was riding my bike, I saw a portly woman walking her dog. I digress!
I was just passing when she said with a chuckle, "Were you talking to the dog or me?"
"The dog," I yelled over my shoulder, "but I'm willing to negotiate." Her hearty laugh slipped into the ether as we distanced from one another.
My late mother talks to people when I’m on the bike trails here in Tucson. Usually, it’s just a nod and smile to oncoming traffic. But when passing others on foot, she usually comments on the beauty of the day and compliments the good-looking dogs (of which there are many).
What I mean to say, is that I ‘channel’ my mother when passing people on the trails. Indeed, I channel that woman almost any time or anywhere someone comes into or through my life. She taught me the art of ‘…never meeting a stranger.’ She could make small talk with practically anyone - a byproduct of her innate curiosity. I have cultivated this gift from her for my entire life.
The current situation…
Ever mindful of friends and family during this time of social distancing and sequestration, I am grateful to have health. With a population of three hundred twenty-seven million, the U.S. has passed the ten percent mark of fellow citizens with documented cases of COVID-19. It is a stunning figure that has seen a startling exponential rise from ninety thousand people in just a little over a month ago.
The worldwide documented case figures of approximately one and a half million, show the virus’ unprecedented spread. Johns Hopkins University and Medical Center issue data daily. If you click the link, the map will be current the day you are reading this. (https://coronavirus.jhu.edu/map.html).
Even in the desert environs, with more open spaces than most places in the country, our surrounding area (at this writing) has seen five hundred and twelve cases with sixteen deaths.
While research scientists work around the clock to unwind COVID-19 and create a vaccine, it could easily be well into next year before we have one. Ebola vaccine, for example, took five years!
Our responsibility...
In the end, to starve the beast, it is we, the citizens, who provide the greatest barrier to the disease. One person practicing social distancing and sequestration couldn't stop the rolling tide of infection transmission, but when we all do it, it is more difficult for the virus to spread.
So, we wear masks in public, adding gloves when shopping. We wipe down doorknobs and countertops and wash our hands as though we suffered from compulsive germaphobia – in these times, not an impulse without merit.
Most of us find a shared community in this time of crisis. We look for ways to help one another, to encourage others that tomorrow will be a better day. As we 'social distance,' stepping off the trail when we approach others during a walk, or taking a wide berth on our bicycles, it is important to remember that we are all part of the fabric of humanity. It is this sense of comradeship, during a time of common peril, that gives us strength.
It is not the big things that touch us the most in moments of crisis, but the little things like a sign in our neighborhood, reminding us that we are, in effect, one.
We are social creatures, frail, and in need of one another. It helps to hear from others that they care for and/or love us. It doesn't take much, maybe nothing more telling someone we are thinking of them.
We have all felt the warmth and tonic of an unsolicited note or call. It doesn't matter much what is said. It's the contact, the reaching out that lets us know we have meaning...a reminder that we are not alone.
It might be a good time to send an email or note to someone for whom you care. Why? You know, just because.
Then there was that dog…
The little things?
Last week with that portly woman "...walking her dog on my bike", the briefest of human connection was made. Right now, while writing this piece, I still feel the joyful moment we shared - the ripples from the pebble dropped still expanding. A pretty good residual for the investment made, I'd say.
Yeah, that dog was a cutie…the lingering feelings?
NOT negotiable.
-ted
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