Sunday, April 12, 2020

Facing coronavirus, we’re all in this together: ‘I see hope happening’




     Kevin Coval went to buy eggs at Tia Nam, a small Vietnamese grocery in Uptown. An old woman asked if he could help her reach three bags of rice noodles on a high shelf. As he did, he realized this was the closest he had been to another human being in days. He didn’t look at the store clerk in quite the same way, either.
    “I’ve been struck by those folks,” said the Chicago poet. “A month ago, they didn’t consider themselves to be first responders. Now, they’re risking their lives to get us fed. That’s pretty remarkable. I’ve always known working people to have a rigor and integrity. Now, we see them in ways we wouldn’t have conceived a month ago.”
     Chicagoans are keeping their distance, interacting in new ways while seeing each other in a different light. As the city and the region struggle to face a virus that doesn’t recognize distinctions of class or race or religion, longstanding problems come into stark relief even as people reach across old boundaries to help one another, and tantalizing possibilities suggest themselves.
     This all comes during a season sacred to three major religions, with Passover having begun Wednesday night, followed by Good Friday and Easter Sunday and Ramadan less than two weeks away.
     
"We’re doing all this in these days of the Easter season, what we call the Easter Passover,” said Cardinal Blase Cupich, spiritual leader of Chicago’s Catholics. “What people are learning in this time is how connected we are. This moment is really forcing all of us to realize we are connected. We’re connected by this virus. Social distancing is telling us how related we are to one another. We have a drive to want to be connected to other people. We don’t want to live isolated lives. We are nourished by that.”
     The cardinal was referring to spiritual nourishment, but there is plenty of the other kind, too. Shuttered restaurants are donating food to pantries and to hospitals to feed besieged doctors and nurses working 12-hour shifts. Police officers, often the targets of criticism, find themselves embraced — from a safe distance, of course.


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4 comments:

  1. Got all stocked up with supplies mid March and when the governor announced that we should shelter in place closed my shop and stayed home for 2 weeks. Not even a trip to the grocery store. Seemed Ill advised what with the CDC saying not to wear a mask? Went out in the yard and saw my police officer neighbor wearing a mask to take out the trash. Inquired as to how things were going and he said he had come into contact at the preceint and had some symptoms. Was headed to the drive through test station . It took more than a week for them to receive the results. Talked to him outside a few times while he waited. He said he couldn't smell or taste anything and had body aches. No cough no fever. Finally the results came back on good friday. Positive! Back in isolation ? So hard to maintain. Went to see my 80 yr old mom on thursday . Terrible feeling in the pit of my stomach. Think of how many grocery store workers are infected. Don't go there. Don't go anywhere. Wear a mask. Thanks to all essential workers at this time. Hard to believe the lowest paid have to bare the brunt of the work to keep things manageable for the rest of us. Makes me realize it's always like that

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  2. Neil's commentaries, putting human faces on what's going on, are the best. A weird Easter. No relatives arriving from Michigan, Wisconsin...and even Glenview. Daily assessments by experts of where we are bring to mind that hopeful anthem from WW II: "We'll meet again. Don't know where. Don't know when. But know we'll meet again some sunny day."



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    1. Sorry Tom, but sadly that song brings to mind the last scenes of Dr. Strangelove.

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    2. Very weird Easter. Just the hubby and me. But Zoom calls with my book club, my cousins, and my kids and grandbabies. We’re very lucky. Giving back tomorrow by delivering meals to seniors. So grateful to all those putting themselves at risk daily.

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