...Hiya, gang. I don’t even know where to begin. I had another article started, about appreciation, and I discussed it with my friend/mentor… Not so much the content, not yet, as it was still pretty raw. To be fair, by the time y’all see anything hit my blog, it’s gone over by me at least a couple times and at least once with my friend/mentor.
Right now… I was going to try to track down that article I’d originally started, to try to whip it into shape somehow… but nope. I’ve changed my mind. I feel it’s far more necessary to speak on this COVID-19 thing that’s hit our country and has rendered a lot of us – admittedly, myself included in that – feeling crippled with frustration and confusion.
Now, y’all know that I generally try to keep things pretty upbeat and light-hearted around here. What I am about to say, I need to say it, because I think we all can agree, this is a pretty scary situation.
I don’t know where you are in the world, Reader. I’m in America. While no, I’m not one to bury my head in the sand and ignore the very real mountain lions salivating as they circle me, I have tried to ignore this as best I can. This week, things have become quite apparent to me that this is not something that is to be ignored. This is much worse than setting a screaming toddler down and walking away to let her cry it out and then come back when she’s calm again. This is so much bigger than that.

The thing is, though, we need to remember, too, Who is in charge. It ain’t us! It’s our Beloved Lord. Last night, we were told, in graphic, gory detail, what is going to happen. The thing is… this isn’t just ‘media hype because it’s an election year,’ it’s a legit concern.
I am not intending to scare you all to make you terrified, but my intention is, entirely, to make you aware of how serious the gravity of this issue. People, we need to be super careful.

This situation has me devastated, let’s be blunt here. When I got the text that our President had called for a National Prayer day thing, and I was asked if I wanted to come to the parish to join in, I did not hesitate, I said yes. Absolutely, yes. Our numbers were few, but I wanted to just crawl into my Beloved’s Lap and cuddle up to His Sacred Heart.

A lot.
I’ve given this a lot of thought, and even now, I can’t help but sit here and fight back the tears that are demanding to run down my face. So many lives have been cut too short because of this illness, and there are still so, so many people out there who are still very sick.
Our world is a mess, right, but it’s become even worse because of this COVID-19 thing. Last night after we were done in the Church, one of my friends noticed something on his FB on his phone that made him laugh, and he shared it with us. I admit, I laughed, and I admit, yes, I shared it with everyone I knew would get a laugh from it:
‘This Coronavirus thing is God’s way of sending us to our rooms so we’ll be nicer to each other.’ You know what? That’s not something that’s far-fetched to me. Our world, let’s face it, has gone nuts. With all the craziness going on, is it any wonder God’s going to allow something to get our attention in such a big way to get us to stop and say, ‘Oh, dear…’ Something this serious, we’re all sitting up and paying very close attention, aren’t we? Not unlike when our parents have had ‘enough’ and they make it abundantly clear how bad we’ve messed up and we need to go to our rooms and think about what we’ve done.
This situation, honestly, is not any different, right, we’re being given yet another wake-up call that we’ve done messed up and God’s not happy.
Honestly, I’m sure there’s going to be some backlash about this post, and I really am in a place right now where I don’t honestly care who I offend. Y’all need to be aware of the gravity of this situation, it’s not to be swept under the proverbial rug, ‘oh, it'll all blow over soon.’ NO. IT WON’T.

I wasn’t able to go to Mass on Wednesday because of a bad brain day (I have C-PTSD, so sometimes my brain isn’t very kind to me and it makes it hard for me to interact not just with my immediate surroundings, but with those I love to be around), and then Friday I ended up staying home because of this COVID-19 issue has me concerned enough to stay home. I didn’t go to Mass yesterday (it’s after midnight here, so it’s Monday now as I write this), because again, this COVID-19 issue. I’m, personally, not sick. I’m too much of a germophobe, and for once, I see my ‘bad brain days’ as a blessing because it helps me to stay away from people when I need to collect myself.
Here’s the deal, though: I don’t like being separated from my Beloved Jesus. I don’t like that I can’t go be in His Presence, especially right now, because I need Him. I need to know that He’s just feet away from me. Sure, I know that He’s still aware of me and He still can hear and see me. I know that He still interacts with me, and I know that He isn’t just at the parish, He’s right here, with me, even as I type this out.
Right now, I’m sitting here just overwhelmed. My friends were trying to talk to me last night, noticing that I was quiet, that I barely spoke. I normally don’t shut up when I’m around people I love. I don’t shut up with jokes and silliness when I’m around people that I enjoy being around. Last night, I just couldn’t bring myself to be silly, I couldn’t wrap my head around any of what was being discussed. I mean, when we were praying the Chaplet of Divine Mercy together, I led one of the decades for it, and I fought, hard, the tears that were threatening to come. I can’t stop crying now. I can’t stop thinking about the graphic videos I’ve seen, I can’t stop thinking about all those innocent people who’ve lost their lives to this horrible illness.

I’m sitting here just praying and begging for answers. I’m sitting here trying to catch my breath, to calm my mind and remember, ‘Jesus is in charge, and He’s going to take care of it all.’
This, right here, this COVID-19, has me certainly appreciating each and every one of those wonderful people in my parish, and those in my tiny social circle outside of the parish, all of the warm embraces. It’s been just a few days and I already miss them. I wasn’t much of a hugger at first like I said, but now that I need a hug, I can’t have one. Now that we all need a hug, we can’t do it, because of this very dangerous situation, something so simple could turn so deadly.
Honestly, I don’t know what to say that hasn’t been said already. I don’t know where I wanted to go with this, but I will end this with a simple statement:

May we use this as a sound and solid lesson: Not just to take better care of ourselves in our health, but to be more considerate of those around us: if you are sick, stay home until you are 100% better. If you have to cough, cough into your elbow. If you sneeze, grab a kleenex before you do and cover your face with it! WASH YOUR HANDS! For the love of all things sparkly and shiny in the world, have some consideration for those around you! We have to share this planet, we all have to be considerate of our surroundings and the people around us, whether or not we directly interact with them.
We need to use this time to learn from it and go forward knowing that this could’ve been prevented, and we can prevent this from happening if we take precautions.
Wake up, y’all. We may not get another chance!
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