In my experience, change oftentimes came when I wasn’t looking. Sometimes it was good change. Sometimes it was not so good. And sometimes it was terrible.
Terrible change came to us all on Jan. 20 of this year. That’s when a patient in Washington state was diagnosed with the most defining challenge of our time — COVID-19.
And we hardly noticed.
That is, until the numbers of those stricken and those dying began to climb and a new word was not just being said but felt: pandemic. For most of us, it’s been the most surreal year of our lives. For many of us, it’s been a year of fear, despair, and chaos.
But, as one wise woman recently said in response to the FDA approving the first COVID-19 vaccine for emergency use, we have (thankfully) now entered, “a long, slow climb toward hope.”
And as Dr. Judith Rich (www.judithrich.com) reminds us, “Having hope is important to the very act of being a human being. Hope is a match in a dark tunnel, a moment of light, just enough to reveal the path ahead and ultimately the way out.”
As I’ve watched the massive undertaking of supplies being shipped and the frontline health workers joyously receiving their first inoculations, I see that lit match. I see more smiles, more excitement, and more joy in more and more people.
Isn’t it fitting that it’s all begun to happen during the season of hope and faith? Because, as Agnes M. Pahro so movingly puts it, “Christmas is tenderness for the past, courage for the present, hope for the future.”
But to give us courage for the present and hope for the future, we must remain diligent against our common enemy of COVID-19. We must, for the sake of our loved ones — and those we don’t even know who have loved ones of their own — to continue to:
Wear a mask.
Watch our distance.
Wash our hands.
Because, as C.S. Lewis said, “You can’t go back and change the beginning, but you can start where you are and change the ending.”
Here’s something else that will help to change the ending: “Do something today that your future self will thank you for.” Trust in the vaccine. And when your opportunity comes to get vaccinated — do it. I do. And I will.
Then, when the day comes — which it will — and this war is called officially over, I propose that we declare that day as CV-Day here in the United States!
Whichever day it turns out to be, it would be in tribute to the remarkable scientific achievements of what we hope will be many COVID-19 vaccines, as well as our ability to stand together with our reserve of discipline against our common enemy that has taken the lives of too many loved ones.
We’ve declared victory against foes in the past and it all started with hope. After all, it was because of hope that we ultimately became “we the people.”
So, let’s hope that our staying steadfast will ensure that when the holidays roll around next year, we’ll all be gathered with our loved ones singing together, “A thrill of hope, the weary world rejoices. For yonder breaks a new and glorious morn.”
Happy Holidays to you and yours, my dear readers!
Until next time ... keep thinking the good thoughts.