Perspective

What I’ve come to understand is that though virtually everyone in the world is paying attention - to one degree or another - to what this virus is doing, we’re not all on the same timeline or working from the same place of understanding.  

Perspective is everything. 

Some of us are experiencing lockdown - or Shelter in Place - from a lovely countryside second home where there is lots of room to be outside and inside.  Lucky you. 

Because there are those of us who are alone, in our city apartments, who don’t really want to hear about how this isn’t so hard, we don’t want to see your photos on social media of lovely views from your solitary walks and exquisitely set rustic table set for the whole family who has just spent the day cooking together with vegetables gathered from the winter garden.

Some of us are feeling that the stopping of Life as We Knew It is giving us a chance to breathe, to reconnect with ourselves, to understand that Life can be lived with a different kind of rhythm. Luck you. 

Because there are those of us who can’t catch our breath because the stopping has meant that there is no longer a job or a paycheck and we don’t know how we’re going to face the coming month’s expenses for essentials like shelter and food.  

Some of us after many years of being on the road for work feel a sense of relief that we can now just stay home.  Lucky you. 

Because there are those of us who stay away from home as much as possible due to the fact that at home there are people, even family members, who make being at home unsafe. 

Some us aren’t feeling so worried about the increasing number of cases or number of deaths because those we care about don’t fall in the demographic categories of those supposedly at risk. Lucky you. 

Because there are those of us who know one person in the world that can be counted on, and not only will she most likely be taken away by COVID-19, she will die without any goodbyes or loved one to hold her hand. 

Some of us stretch the rules of Shelter in Place without a guilty conscience because well, it’s not going to really hurt anyone, we don’t think. Lucky you. 

Because there are those of us who have compromised immune systems or are tending to family who have already fallen ill who have to compensate for the carelessness others.

Some of us are able to keep working, doing so from the comfort of home at a pace that suits us. Lucky you. 

Because there are those who were cast out into the virtual world without any direction and are having to field calls from students and parents from 8am to 10pm every day just to try to keep everyone on track, not because they have to, but because they are teachers. 

Some of us feel frustrated, closed in, claustrophobic at the thought of not being able to be out and about for who knows how much longer.  Lucky you that’s all you have to gripe about. 

Because there are those who don’t get to go home, who are on the front lines of this war putting their own lives at stake to save the lives of others. 

Each of Us is having his or her own experience and seeing things from his or her own perspective which essentially changes over time as experience allows each of us to learn. 

Hopefully the learning will bring us to a global perspective of understanding each other better. 

Did you know that The Vietnam War is called something different in Vietnam?  

It is called The American War. 

Perspective is everything.