“Life can give you strength. Strength can come from facing the storms of life, from knowing loss, feeling sadness and heartache, from falling into the depths of grief. You must stand up in the storm. You must face the wind and the cold and the darkness. When the storm blows hard, you must stand firm, for it is not trying to knock you down. It is really trying to teach you to be strong.”
— Joseph M. Marshall III
It is impossible to count the number of times we have questioned whether any of us much younger than our oldest living generation could survive the toughest blows that life can deal. The current horror of a world pandemic — a foe that is unseen, unknown, untested by time — is leveling us in ways we now must face.
We will find out if we can be tough enough. For the vast majority of our population, the biggest request is simply to stay at home, a simple thing on its surface. For others, the daily demand of showing up as though nothing has changed is asking a great deal.
Manning a cash register and stocking empty shelves, working a long and incredibly exhausting shift within a hospital or nursing home, being available to drive a squad or a semi or making home deliveries in to quarantined neighborhoods all require a brave spirit in this crisis.
Emergencies
Though our national leaders detailed this possibility within secured communications for a number of years, most of us could never have imagined what has unfolded, nor would we have wanted to if pressed. “Be prepared for emergencies,” we heard from time to time, but we didn’t listen, or only half-heartedly.
We witness the digging of mass graves in New York in numbers too large to fully process in our quiet homes, and choose to pray or look away. As I write this, the U.S. death toll from COVID-19 stands just over 21,650.
The number of confirmed cases in the states, 549,131, is surely higher considering less than 1% of the population has been tested. Survivors tell of nightmarish symptoms, grateful to be on the other side of its horrors.
“Right where you are is where you need to be. Don’t fight it. Don’t run away from it. Stand firm. Take a deep breath … now ask yourself: why is this in my world? What do I need to see?” asks Iyanla Vanzant.
Hope
It is a question for the ages. While we grieve the horrific deaths, we must not lose hope. There is no doubt that good will come from this.
People who have never once considered it will realize how grateful we should be for a safe and dependable food supply, for the freedom to go where we wish to go in a typical day. Teachers will be appreciated anew, children will learn to think beyond themselves, health care workers will be valued in deeper ways. Jobs will be accepted with gratitude.
Perhaps an entire generation will learn to sew, cook, to ration the necessary in a way that had never once occurred in a world of unending plenty.
We embrace tranquility in the midst of life typically filled with obliviousness to all the noise and bluster of the every day. Leadership, fueled by gratitude, can bloom in the toughest conditions. We learn to bend in the most thunderous of all storms.
