Anjali Gupta
- 3 min read

Inspiration From The Community

As we maintain our physical distance, we all continue to explore ways to remain connected to others. Our virtual world is expanding both professionally and personally with workouts, yoga, meditation, book clubs, happy hours, games, and more being done through screens. Our connections with friends, family, neighbors, colleagues, teachers, coaches, etc often fill our lives with inspiration.

Thank you to Lynne & Debbie for sending in the poem by Chris Briscoe and to Christine for the quote from Virginia Woolf.

There are so many grieving moments and losses amidst this pandemic. Here are a few silver linings from author and photographer Chris Briscoe to assist us as we struggle for meaning amidst the wide range of loss affecting us and the community around us.

FROM LYNNE & DEBBIE...

POEM BY CHRIS BRISCOE:

"Thank you for shaking us to our core and showing us that we are dependent on something much bigger than what we thought.

Thank you for forcing us to understand that we are all connected.

Thank you for making us appreciate the luxury we lived in: freedom, health, and making us realize that we were taking much of it for granted.

Thank you for stopping us, and making us see how lost we were in the busyness, often not taking time for the most basic things.

Thank you for forcing us to put aside all of the “problems” we thought were so important and showing us what is actually very important.

Thank you for pushing us to face fear and learn to embrace it. We are all forged in the shadows.

Thank you for nudging us to reevaluate our lives.

Thank you for forcing us to stop wasting our money on unimportant things.

Thank you for drastically slowing the flow of automobiles that have torched the atmosphere for too long. The earth was begging for a chance to catch its breath.

Thank you for the opportunity to evaluate everything and the chance to change so much of it. We sensed that the world had to change. Now we feel it in our bones.

Thank you for the opportunity we have to set aside our differences and forgive.

Thank you for letting us see that all war is meaningless - the only war worth fighting is against Covid-19.

Thank you for teaching us humility. This virus is the great equalizer. (If you are affluent enough to have a gardener and you’re sequestered inside watching them work outside, he/she is now the “wealthy one”.)

Thank you for letting us see that the common grocery worker is an uncommon hero, working hard to make sure we are all fed.

Thank you for reminding us how short and fragile our lives can be.

Thank you for showcasing one of the most important words of all - Gratitude.

Thank you for reintroducing simple technology into our lives: remote video medical exams, online learning, Zoom gatherings and the intimacy of a long phone conversation (far outweighing the shallowness of texting.)

Thank you for the many advances in technology that this virus is driving.

Thank you for pushing us to reach out to old friends, to remind them, “You are important to me. You matter.”

Thank you for heroes like Dr. Fauci demonstrating fact and science-based leadership.

Thank you for unifying and focusing nearly every scientist in the world with a common goal. Wouldn’t it be wonderful, when this pandemic is over, if this process was fortified and carried on to find solutions with other challenging global problems?

Thank you for reminding us to plan for the next global virus.

Thank you for showing us that great leaders uplift others.

Thank you for bringing books off of shelves and back into our hands.

Thank you for making us yearn for the simplicity of a long walk outside.

Thank you for forcing us to reconnect with, and embrace the most important relationship we have - the one with ourselves."

Our friends. As so many of us know, our friends are with us not only to celebrate the good times but to support us during the hard times.

FROM CHRISTINE...

QUOTE BY VIRGINIA WOOLF:

"Some people go to priests; others to poetry; I to my friends."

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