Hindsight for 2020

We are coming up on the year “anniversary” of America’s shutdown in response to the COVID-19 pandemic. On Monday of that week last year, someone posted a meme on Facebook about the upcoming week, which featured a lost hour of sleep due to Daylight Savings Time, followed by a full moon, and then capped off by Friday, the 13th. In other words, be on guard! The inference was that there

would be a bunch of hyperactive or crabby kids in school that week. Little did we know that would be our kids’ last week of school for the remainder of the year!

Those first few weeks were just surreal. While the kids adapted to virtual learning at home, and all the toilet paper flew off the shelves of every store in the country, it became clear that we were in a boat none of us had been in before. Governor Holcomb announced that effective March 25, Indiana residents were to begin “sheltering in place” (a new phrase added to 2020’s vocabulary, along with “social distancing” and “flattening the curve”). The church I work for not only closed down for Masses, but also closed own the office for well over six weeks.

After packing up the last of my things in order to work from home, I went to the sanctuary to film a brief video to post to our Facebook page. I had emailed the church community that week, asking them to send me their family’s photo so I could print them out and attach them to the chairs so Father wouldn’t feel so alone while he was preaching. I walked through that space, lingering at each picture for a moment, and quietly singing the song, “Hosea”:

COME BACK TO ME, WITH ALL YOUR HEART.

DON’T LET FEAR KEEP US APART.

There is an audible crack in my voice as I conclude the song, wondering when I will see these faces again in person. I left work that afternoon with no idea of what to expect for the days ahead.

The old saying, “Hindsight is 20/20” is spot on! Often when we are in the thick of something, we can’t step back long enough to see the truths that are being revealed to us. Now that a year of living with COVID 19 is behind us, it causes me to look back. What do I know now that I didn’t know then?

#1: WE ARE ALL VULNERABLE

None of us will live forever, and we might walk around saying, “Don’t take anything for granted”, but the reality of that has been full force this past year. The randomness with which this virus has fatally struck people (many who seemed to be in “safe” categories), has been a wake up call. Yes, we may live in what’s considered the best country in the world, but we are still vulnerable. Bad things don’t always happen to someone else. They can happen to anyone.

#2 GOD DID NOT SEND THE PANDEMIC TO TEACH US A LESSON

True to human nature, many of us have spent time this past year trying to explain why this pandemic has reared its head. I cringe every time I hear someone say, “God sent the pandemic to teach us a lesson.” I don’t think of God as a chess master in the sky waiting to punish us for being human. I cannot get on board with a God who would “send” an airborne virus to kill millions of people and wipe out economies worldwide. I think bad things happen in this world, often times through the free choice of human beings, and that God is there, loving us through our heartaches and trials. God mourns with us and strengthens us. GOD IS ON OUR SIDE!!! God is not a game player or a magician. We need to stop making God the bad guy and learn our lessons without making God responsible for every unfortunate circumstance in our lives.

#3 WE ARE ONE

I think the most important thing I learned this past year is that we are all one. At least, we should be. We had to give up so much of what we wanted for ourselves in order to benefit the good of ALL. We wore (and continue to wear) masks to protect others who are more vulnerable. On our good days, hopefully we still smile under those masks and acknowledge others around us with a sincere, “How are you holding up?” This is the only time in my life (and perhaps all of history), that the entire planet is living through the same thing together. It’s actually quite awe-inspiring to think about. How can we go through something like this and not realize that we are connected?

St. Mother Teresa of Calcutta said it beautifully: “If we have no peace, it’s because we’ve forgotten that we belong to each other.”

And then there is the wisdom of childhood, as evidenced in the song my children sang before lunch every day of their kindergarten through 6th grade years at Chesterton Montessori:

“LOOK AROUND AND YOU WILL SEE

COMMUNITY, A FAMILY.

WE ARE BROTHERS AND SISTERS.

WE ARE ONE.”

Amen to that.