The cracks are where the light gets in: COVID-19 + doing the hard things.

A tsunami happens once. One big wave followed by one giant retreat as it goes back out to sea. Then it’s over. COVID-19 is not like that. It is not one wave with one curve that needs to be managed. COVID-19 is many small waves, many localized eruptions. What we are experiencing today, in early May, is not the last we will see, feel, fear. We need to settle in and pace ourselves as this global health crisis is going to endure longer than our sourdough starters and bad quarantine haircuts.

What is happening right now with the lifting of shelter at home orders is the prioritization of the economy over health. This is not new, it is one of the founding doctrines of the United States of America, and we should not be surprised. We also need to commit to not being overpowered by it. Many of us are tired of staying at home. We miss our people, our places. I do not dispute that this is confusing. I have a Master’s Degree in Public Health and I am confused some days! That said, I try to remind myself that what we do know is this virus is going to be around for awhile, a long while in human terms, and that it requires a long-term approach.

There is not going to be a going back to normal from here. Consider other events that changed the way we related to each other: 9/11 and the HIV-AIDS epidemic in the U.S., for example. We did not go back to the way things were. We moved forward creating new ways of traveling and having sex after we lost so many, so fast. The world did not go back to normal.

There are tremendous opportunities for us, collectively and individually, in this. Consider the Leonard Cohen lyrics, “There is a crack in everything, that’s how the light gets in.” This is how I feel about this crisis. We are seeing the cracks, those of us who did not see them before. Cracks in healthcare. Cracks in economic security. Cracks in our public health system. Those cracks can feel like threats or opportunities; that perspective is up to us.

I invite us all to consider what we can do to make this world a more just, equitable place while we weather this storm together while apart. We can do this, if we want to. We can do hard things. Shall we?????