#newsamehope / 3.22.20
What is new?
Theaters and television shows are donating whatever PPE they had in props storage to healthcare workers. That’s where we are in terms of the supplies we need to keep our frontline warriors safe.
New GoFundMe pages go up each day while we wait for the government to distribute checks or suspend rent or or or.
Parts of nature are coming back to life. Dolphins in canals and birds singing out. When I hear the phrase “silver lining,” I recoil though. Silver lining? To what? A corroded pipe that will still contaminate your drinking water?
What is the same?
The truest proof of my Irish citizenship is the amount of tea I drink daily.
Big, painted skies at sunset regulate our breath.
Gushers are not dinner food.
What is the hope?
The streets were quiet(er) last night. People are listening.
I don’t know if this is a common experience, but I feel emboldened to say what I need in a way I usually don’t. Not always, and not fully. But there are bits of boldness in me I’m getting to know again.
We’re having conversations about structural change that our country has been too complacent to have up to this point. It was never bad *enough* for enough people with privilege. We haven’t fought a war on our land since the Civil War. The water crisis in Flint, Hurricane Katrina, the flooding of central Iowa: events that most of the country has been able to consider isolated and removed from their daily lives. This is different. It’s in everyone’s backyard. There’s no looking away this time. And if we keep staring at this crisis in the eye, maybe we can shift things around to make a better world. Do we dare to dream that big? I believe we have to. I believe that the very act of daring will keep our spirits alive. It is the only path forward.
Photo: Orchid Show. Chicago Botanic Gardens. February 2018.