One of the beautiful responses to the pandemic has gone un-noticed by the corporate media but has made its way onto social media. The call went out in Native American communities for jingle dancers to dance for healing and as a prayer for the suffering.
I’ve watched four different dancers in four different communities offer their prayers. The dancers probably ranged in age from four to 15. The four-year-old danced on her front porch. The others danced in the front yard or their rural street. I can’t think of a better way for “stay at home” school kids to spend a morning, or a more appropriate way for them to learn a meaningful way to respond to a life-changing pandemic. It’s people like these children with good hearts, strong spirits and a positive attitude that are going to see us through this crisis.
In the same way, one has to admire and celebrate our health-care workers in hard hit areas, working diligently to save lives, often without the proper protective equipment and putting their own lives at risk. Perhaps you’ve seen the pictures of the nurses, catching a few moments of rest or sleep, curled up on the floor or on a table or wherever they can get out of the way on a never-ending shift.
Then when New York Governor Andrew Cuomo asked for volunteers to come forward to aid their health care workers, 40,000 retired medical care workers and medical students signed up. You saw that right: 40,000. Perhaps you saw the interview with one of those medical students. About to graduate this semester, instead of final course work, she will be thrust into the eye of the storm. Her articulate and intelligent response to the interviewer, especially with respect to her own safety, was profound. And if that wasn’t enough, when the call went out for mental health professionals in New York to volunteer for crisis counseling with the affected, 6,000 signed up.
The good news doesn’t stop with volunteers in New York. People are reaching out in new and unique ways to make a contribution. Special music to lift the mind and spirit is rolling off the internet. There was the high school choir in California that decided to give the concert they were planning from their respective homes. Nineteen students in 19 homes managed to sing a piece a cappella with harmony, soloists and precision. Or check out the Berklee College of Music piece that combines orchestral and vocal talents on a big screen. Or watch several African American artists sing in sequence “He’s Got the Whole World in His Hands,” a most fitting response to a time like this.
Closer to home, a friend has started a “Virtual Care Package for the Pandemic.” She calls it “Staying Power.” In the package, she includes such things as: a personal reflection, poetry, photography, dance, music, a mandala to color, all manner of artistic and thoughtful ways to give one’s spirit a lift.
Also closer to home, I saw my first teddy bear in a window last evening, just two blocks from our house. I knew teddy bears in windows was happening in Watertown but this was the first I’d seen in Brookings. Supposedly it began in Tennessee in one suburban neighborhood as a way for “stay at home” kids and social distancing families to interact. The challenge was, how many bears can you find as you walk or drive around the neighborhood? Some children even started wearing safari clothes and carrying binoculars as they stalked their neighborhood
As adults, we’re doing something similar. Since we believe in social distancing, and getting out of the house, we’ve been driving rural roads in search of birds, not bears. Yesterday, we saw a huge flock of Lesser Scaup settled on the water at Oakwood Lakes. That was a bonus. as we were searching for eagles reported to be in the area. To our surprise, we saw one as we were returning home, perched in a tree near the river and close enough to capture on camera.
Social distancing has also meant I’ve had two days on-line with my classes. Now I’m learning more about my students; what their kitchen looks like; how loud the one-year-old can be; who the stranger is walking through the background. I even had the 13- year-old daughter of one of my students respond to a Biblical question I asked. “I know that,” she said, overhearing the question as she raided their refrigerator.
On a heavier note, people are dying, often alone, without family nearby. Suiting up family members in protective gear hardly seems likely, when there aren’t enough to go around for health care workers. So we offer last rites on-line. An Episcopal priest shared his story on the news the other evening. He and family members were all hooked together by phone and hospital workers made it possible for their voices to be carried to the family member near death. The priest described it as a rare and beautiful experience. The family member died 10 minutes after the call.
Perhaps the unpredictability of this pandemic will remind us that we are all in God’s hands, we’re not in control. We need to live life and love as fully as possible, even in isolation, and not take our loved ones for granted.
