Wednesday, March 25, 2020

An imagined letter to us from Covid-19

Stop. Just stop. 
                              
It is no longer a request. 
It is a mandate.
We will help you.
We will bring 
the supersonic, 
high speed 
merry-go-round to a halt
We will stop 
the planes 
the trains
 the school
the malls
the meetings
the frenetic, 
furied rush 
of illusions 
and “obligations” 
that keep 
you from 
hearing our
single and shared
 beating heart,
the way we 
breathe together, 
in unison.
Our obligation 
is to each other,
As it has 
always been, 
even if, 
even though, 
you have forgotten.
We will interrupt 
this broadcast,
 the endless 
cacophonous 
broadcast of 
divisions 
and distractions,
to bring you 
this long-breaking news:
We are not well.
None of us; 
all of us are suffering. 
Last year, 
the firestorms 
that scorched 
the lungs of the earth
did not give you pause.
Nor the typhoons 
in Africa, China, Japan.
Nor the fevered 
climates in Japan and India.

You have not been listening.
It is hard to listen 
when you are so 
busy all the time, 
hustling to uphold 
the comforts and 
conveniences 
that scaffold your lives.

But the foundation 
is giving way,
buckling under 
the weight of 
your needs and desires.
We will help you.
We will bring 
the firestorms to your body
We will bring 
the fever to your body
We will bring the burning, 
searing, and
 flooding to your lungs

that you might hear:

We are not well.
Despite what you 
might think or feel, 
we are not the enemy.
We are Messenger. 
We are Ally. 
We are a balancing force.
We are asking you:
To stop, 
to be still, 
to listen;
To move 
beyond 
your individual concerns 
and consider 
the concerns of all;
To be with your ignorance, 
to find your humility, 
to relinquish your
 thinking minds 
and travel 
deep into the
 mind of the heart;
To look up into the sky, 
streaked with fewer planes, 
and see it, to notice its condition:
 clear, smoky, smoggy, rainy?
 How much do you need it to be 
healthy so that you may 
also be healthy?
To look at a tree, 
and see it, 
to notice its condition: 
how does its health 
contribute to the 
health of the sky, 
to the air 
you need to be healthy?

To visit a river, 
and see it, 
to notice its condition: 
clear, clean, murky, polluted?
 How much do you 
need it to be healthy 
so that you may also 
be healthy? 
How does its health 
contribute to the
 health of the tree, 
who contributes to 
the health of the sky, 
so that you may also be healthy?

Many are afraid now.
Do not demonize your fear, 
and also, do not let it rule you. 
Instead, 
let it speak to you—in your stillness,
listen for its wisdom.
What might it be telling you 
about what is at work, 
at issue, at risk, 
beyond the threats 
of personal inconvenience and illness?

As the health of a tree, a river, the sky 
tells you about quality of your own health, 
what might the quality of your health 
tell you about the health of the rivers,
 the trees, the sky, and 
all of us who 
share this planet with you?

Stop.

Notice if you are resisting.
Notice what you are resisting.

Ask why.

Stop. Just stop.

Be still.
Listen.
Ask us what we might teach you
about illness and healing,
about what might be required
 so that all may be well.

We will help you, if you listen.      

(ARTICLE CONTRIBUTED BY KRISTIN FLYNTZ | PUBLISHED ON TUESDAY, MARCH 17, 2020)

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