Give Thanks, Let It Be

When I find myself in times of trouble Mother Mary comes to me. Speaking words of wisdom, let it be.

And in my hour of darkness, she is standing right in front of me. Speaking words of wisdom, let it be.

—John Lennon/Paul McCartney

Pre-COVID-19, it was so easy to let oneself get bogged down in minutiae. Petty politics, petty emotions, petty journalism.

Last week, The Independent began an ongoing series telling the story of the Spanish influenza pandemic of 1918-1919. It is a story that shows how bad things can go when we are confronted with a disease for which we have no immunity. How bad things can go if we ignore the science related to contagious diseases.

We are now in lockdown. We are in shelter, not from bombs falling from the sky, but, rather, from microscopic bombs in the air, or on the surfaces we touch.

It is easy, confined with each other as we now are, to let petty emotions beguile us. Some slight from long ago suddenly seems important.

But when we go out, or even put on TV, what do we see?

Grocery workers, our brothers and sisters, putting their lives on the line, ensuring that we have food and supplies.

The police, always the first on the scene of any emergency.

The doctors and nurses who are our frontline warriors, and, unfortunately, at risk for contracting the disease.

All our firefighters and EMTs, who, in doing the jobs they volunteered for, are frequently the ones who make first contact with a potential victim of COVID-19.

Give them a kind word, a word of thanks, when you can. A smile or a thumbs up. But no hugs, please.

As for the petty stuff?

Let it be.