Not as usual, better and easier for some than for others, but yes, life goes on. These are certainly not ordinary days. And since I have a voice, albeit a small one, there are a few things that I need to get off my chest.
Covid19 is a dangerous virus and is not be underestimated. And yet, many people choose to do just that and, in doing so, put the lives of other, more vulnerable segments of the population at risk. Conspiracy theories, too, abound. From statements declaring the "death squads" have arrived to "socialized health care" putting people down. None of it is accurate, true, nor correct. It creates hate and panic, and panic leads to bad decisions.
Nobody is killing people because of their age. Nobody is sending people to die. There are simply not enough supplies to accommodate all. You want to blame someone, blame your respective governments. They knew what was coming, and they did nothing. Please stop the nonsense of these conspiracies and socialized crap. We have bigger fish to fry.
Then, let's talk about "SOCIAL ISOLATION" and "STAY AT HOME ORDER" and "MANDATORY QUARANTINES." I'm sure we all have opinions about this. But here too, common sense must rule. It doesn't matter whether or not the governors issue orders… because, in the end, it is UP TO US to do the right thing. (They do issue orders because many do not follow common sense guidance) So, let's recap here:
1. The virus transmits from person to person;
2. Wash your hands with soap often for 20 sec;
3. When they tell you to practice self-isolation: PLEASE PRACTICE SELF ISOLATION. This means, keep to yourself, avoid closeness, handshakes, etc.… maintain 6 feet between you and others. This way, you will prevent passing on this bug to someone who actually may get very ill and die;
4. When they tell you to quarantine yourself if you are sick or have symptoms: DO AS THEY ASK. QUARANTINE YOURSELF. Again, this way you will avoid passing this bug to someone who actually may get very ill and die.
5. STOP DISTRIBUTING MISINFORMATION. You are not helping anyone with this. On the contrary, you are creating panic. And panic leads to bad decisions.
6. When they tell you are allowed to walk your dog, walk your dog but stay in your neighborhood and practice SOCIAL DISTANCE by leaving at least 6 feet between you and others. (If you don't have a dog, pretend you have one, and use the same safeguards … 😉 I guess that may be ok)
7. When they tell you to avoid large crowds, only to leave your house to go grocery shopping or for medical needs: HELL, AVOID LARGE CROWDS. This includes but is not limited to not congregating in the park, on the street, or at someone's house. This is not the time to party. Again, if you practice this, you will avoid passing on this bug to someone who actually may get very ill and die.
You have to admit that these are simple rules. We can stifle the bug this way until a vaccine or useful anti-virals are found. Do not listen to persons proclaiming to know it all if they ARE NOT epidemiologists, physicians, or other medical personnel. Because THEY DO NOT KNOW IT ALL. Do not self-medicate without talking to your physician first. HEED THE ADVICE OF YOUR PHYSICIAN, THE CDC, THE WHO. Heed the advice of people trained to do what they are doing and are not working from their gut.
We do, in effect, not need the government's imposition of these rules IF WE ALL PRACTISE COMMON SENSE AND HEED THE DARN RULES, to beat this thing, we must be responsible for ourselves and practice empathy towards others. This thing is not a 'ME' thing. It is totally an 'US' thing. And when doing the right thing, it too will fade and disappear.
Day 7 of the Isolation Journal is here. As usual a bit moody with a touch of panic and uncertainty coupled with a sprinkle of hope. I hope you like it! Until next time peoples of the page. Be kind. Be safe. Be smart. Namaste.
ISOLATION JOURNAL | A Southern Strategy - Day | Leaning on Presence
I could feel the anxiety building as the night wore on. I had taken in far too many news articles, opinions, viewpoints, and suppositions until I had crushed my own decision to steady my own mind and stick to my decision to stay in the moment, and trust I would be led to do the correct and next thing, but only if I kept my wits about me and stopped entertaining the worst.
It's a funny--or amazing--thing that in my rollercoaster-hang-by-your-heels life as an artist I can look back and profess that I have never been abandoned by the unseen clockwork of Presence that has been my partner since I was given a name and knew myself as Me in this sequenced experience of Self and Time. Yet I am always forgetting the fact.
Yes, I have been crushed and demolished psychically and emotionally at many turns, but the moment I was ready to let go of the fear, the drama of my sense of loss or failure, something would turn, and in an instant. The phone would ring, and a friend would comfort me; a stranger would stop his car on a dark, dirt road and help me change my tire, or the doorbell would ring, and someone would disable my fear of the worst I had imagined.
On and on, I can recall dangerous, even outrageous, instances wherein the 'gullible-me' had been in the wrong place at the wrong time, yet I saw the certainty of abject calamity suddenly dissolved before my eyes.
So here we all are in peril left to torture our minds with the conflicting cornucopia of special interests vying to save us or thin us out, or so it seems. A thousand doctors with differing opinions and strategies. Politicians and self-gain. The prospect of mounting bills and insufficient funds.
With all of this, mind has no way out except....to slow down, shut up, and be here now. It is the one measure that has always rescued me from my hell.
Besides, no action taking during reactionary panic will likely produce any worthwhile result or good, but rather only make the fear more real, like the hoarders who empty the grocery stores then hurry home to proclaim, "Told you it was real! They don't have anything left!"
I am not claiming any form of Specialness or divine favor with my affirmation of leaning on Presence. All I can really know is my own direct experience in the end, and my experience has been as afore-mentioned.
Has this ineffable form of trust in this Presence won me the lottery, or accelerated my career aspirations, or resurrected a loved one, some make ask? No. And what I have concluded, accordingly, is that I cannot always know into the future what would actually be good for me, and serve the highest good.
The things I once thought I so desperately needed were, in retrospect, mere ambitions and traps set by my ego to reap more suffering dressed in a higher style. As for death and someone's passing, well, that is a fact and has been such since the histories of births and deaths were first recorded. I can mourn my loss of them and comfort the survivors. That is all I can do.
To summarize and conclude my byzantine retelling of Sunday evening, I almost melted down several times from my anxiety borne of isolation and in every instance, the phone rang, or someone appeared, or a sudden shift of mind occurred when I breathed deeply and reminded myself to still my mind, be quiet, and create a space herein to receive the Present.
That's the only stimulus I have to extend right now, but maybe it will be of some value to you.
© Silvanus Slaughter 2020
