El Pardo, #3 (The Hidden Threat), Madrid, Spain 2019
“Everything will be alright in the end… and if it is not alright, it is not yet the end.”
–Sonny Kapoor in The Best Exotic Marigold Hotel. (And John Lennon, Ed Sheeran, et al)
Well, here we are.
Many of us are either in some sort of lockdown or in quarantine, and for quien sabe how long.
Some have already lost or are losing a job.
And then there are those in hospital, recovering or on respirators.
Ever the optimist, it makes me wonder if…
if… just possibly…
…could a silver lining eventually emerge from this global tragedy? Might there be positive outcomes in the end?
Will we as a world start to take seriously the human impact on Gaia’s ecosystems and how we interact with other creatures?
Will we start to have a sober conversation on critical issues such as sustainability, overpopulation, habitat destruction, species extinction, ocean acidification, and climate change?
Will we begin to actually take action to evolve beyond the consumer-capitalist model to a better, fairer, healthier, less destructive, more sustainable, and more fulfilling paradigm for human life on this planet?
And on a more personal level…
Will we now start to give some thought to what might be really and truly important in our teeny-weeny little human beehive-busy lives?
Will this mess actually bring many lonely people and their dysfunctional families closer together?
Will we each seriously reexamine our life goals? Reexamine ourselves? (On the inside, not just what we do… we are human beings, after all, not human doers.)
Wishful thinking maybe?
Which makes me think of a story I once heard…
A Man and His Horse
There once was a man in a small mountain village who had a horse.
One day, the horse ran away, and all the village cried, “That’s terrible! What a tragedy! How will you plow your fields?”
The man shrugged his shoulders and said, “I’m not sure if it is good or bad.”
A few days later, the horse wandered back to the village as part of a herd of a half dozen other wild, but healthy and beautiful, horses.
All the village cried, “What luck! You are now a rich man!”
To which the man responded, “I’m not sure if it is good or bad.”
The following week, while the man’s only son was trying to train one of the new horses, the son fell off and broke his leg.
The villagers all cried, “That’s awful! Your poor son. You must be so sad!”
Again, the man responded, “I’m not sure if it is good or bad.”
A few weeks later, the army came through the village and snatched up every available young man for the war. (And none were to return.) The man’s son, hobbled with a broken leg, was not taken away that fateful day.
And so it goes on… endlessly.
Maybe this is a lesson on how to live the present moment a bit more consciously…
Or, as some might put it: Have the serenity to accept the things you cannot change, the courage to change the things you can, and the wisdom to know the difference.
Do we really know, in the end, if an event is good or bad? Even for those unfortunates who might pass on, we know so little about the Universe… how can we label even Death itself as good or bad until we are each actually there? What’s the Grand Plan? How does It All Work? What’s it all about, Alfie?
Which leads me to this nice BBC narration that is now circulating on social media…
All over the world, people are slowing down and reflecting
by BBC Radio, London (2:42)
In case you don’t want to listen, here is a transcription you can read:
“Lockdown.
Yes, there is fear.
Yes, there is isolation.
Yes, there is panic buying.
Yes, there is sickness.
Yes, there is even death.
But, they say that in Wuhan after so many years of noise,
you can hear the birds again.
They say that after just a few weeks of quiet,
the sky is no longer thick with fumes, but blue and grey and clear.
They say that in the streets of Assisi
people are singing to each other across the empty squares,
keeping their windows open so that those who are alone may hear
the sounds of family around them.
They say that a hotel in the west of Ireland
is offering free meals and delivery to the housebound.
Today, a young woman I know is busy spreading flyers
with her number through the neighborhood
so that the elders may have someone to call on.
Today, churches, synagogues, mosques, and temples
are preparing to welcome and shelter the homeless, the sick, the weary.
All over the world, people are slowing down and reflecting.
All over the world, people are looking at their neighbors in a new way.
All over the world, people are waking up to a new reality…
To how big we really are.
To how little control we really have.
To what really matters.
To love.
So we pray and we remember that, yes, there is fear,
but there does not have to be hate.
Yes, there is isolation, but there does not have to be loneliness.
Yes, there is panic buying, but there does not have to be meanness.
Yes, there is sickness, but there does not have to be disease of the soul.
Yes, there is even death, but there can always be a rebirth of love.
Wake to the choices you make as to how to live now.
Today breathe.
Listen.
Behind the factory noises of your panic the birds are singing again.
The sky is clearing.
Spring is coming, and we are always encompassed by love.
Open the windows of your soul and though you may not be able to touch across the empty square…
Sing.”
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2 Comments
Beautifully written, old friend. I hope you don’t mind that I shared it on my FB page. Thank you.
Thanks, Teresa. No problem to share it. Stay spore free!