Monday Morning Musings

Posted on April 13, 2020 under Monday Morning Musings with 3 comments

Be grateful for what we have.

“Maybe it’s time to let the old ways die,
Maybe it’s time to let the old ways dies,
It takes a lot to change a man,
Hell, it takes a lot to try,
Maybe it’s time to let the old ways die”
Maybe it’s Time. Bradley Cooper

I’m fast approaching the end of the beginning.

By the time most of you have read this, I will have completed my self- isolation and will have completed my first walk in fresh air in two weeks. I am going to temper my enthusiasm, however. This is not a sprint. It’s a marathon.

Today it will not be business as usual for me. After two weeks of being pampered by neighbors and friends in the cocoon of my apartment, I will step out into the world most of you have been living for several weeks. As a friend said, “You won’t be out and about.”

Yes, I will be able to walk and go for groceries once every few weeks but the ground rules for daily living will be much different. I won’t be able to walk The Main, stopping to chat on the sidewalks with friends. Hugs will be verboten and wandering in and out of stores, a distant memory.

Lunches at the Maritime Inn with old friends will be a decided no go and stopping into to Piper’s Pub for a cold one and listening to Betsy’s Boots is not going to happen in the foreseeable future. Even going for a drive (or walk!) around The Cape is going to have to be put on hold.

We simply can’t afford to our ourselves in harm’s way. More to the point, we also can’t afford to be the one to put someone else in harm’s way by unselfish acts. “I am my brother’s keeper” has never meant so much.

Cherished family gatherings and singsongs are on hold. Zoom meetings will become as ubiquitous as the “Golden Arches”. For those who pray and worship, you’ll have to do this in the solitude of your place of dwelling. Many of you have been doing this for a long time so that won’t be a hardship.

This is no time to be complacent or smug. This pandemic is far from over and we need to get our mindset re-arranged. As depressing as it sounds, this is our new normal… as much as I loathe that moniker.

One can only hope that the most important thing that endures when we finally start seeing some light at the end of the tunnel is gratitude.

Staying at home and slowing down has made most of us appreciate the smaller things in life. It has also made us abundantly aware of the work force and the real heroes out there who often toil in low paying jobs crucial to our safety and survival. You know who I mean. Maybe for once, we can get away from a hierarchical society where someone is at the top of the ladder and someone else is at the bottom. We need to appreciate that we are all in this journey together and it is folly to think that one occupation is more important than the next.

Maybe it IS time to let the old ways die.

Have a great and safe week.

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