What We Do

I have experienced 36 years, 3 months, and 8 days of life. To some, this is but a mere toe dip in the world and to others, an ancient relic of life. I only speak from my personal heart and mind regarding societal experiences. 

With the recent directive to shelter in place in Illinois, it opened up even more time to reflect. I began reading more medical and science research articles than my usual dose as well as listening to the news around the clock. I have equally consumed my fair share of memes and personal social media posts about everything related to Covid19. And as I began to feel inundated by government decisions, rising statistics, and medical predictions, I took instead to reflecting on societal moments that have been engraved into my soul’s memory, most which are best described as chilling:

• Sitting in my freshman history class and hearing about the Columbine school shooting
• Cutting my AP Bio lab short to be ushered into my high school’s “chapel” to watch the second tower get hit
• Watching people stranded on their rooftops at the impact of Hurricane Katrina on television, as I was preparing to return to my senior year of college
• Talking to my students about the murder of Trayvon Martin...and Michael Brown...and...
• [More personal than societal but…] Supporting my school through the loss of one of our 8th grade students due to a sudden and unexpected medical complication
• Sitting at the end of the hallway as classrooms watched & discussed the verdict of Jason Van Dyke for the murder of Laquan McDonald   

As I recall and sit in each moment, I feel the exact emotion from that moment. I remember the details clearly, how I had my head laid on the desk or the shoes I stared at as I gathered my words to dialogue with my students. Disruptions are chilling, especially when it is out of our control and makes no sense within the logic we have access to. However, as I remembered, I also re-embraced what teachers, trusted adults, family, colleagues, and friends provided for me and one another during those experiences:

• Make Space: for questions, for dialogue, for processing, for the brain & heart to catch up with one another in making sense of what is happening/happened
• Be Honest & Vulnerable: with information, what is known and unknown, and feelings, what is known and unknown; it’s ok to be human   
• Show Emotion: it’s ok to be human, yes, I am reiterating this
• Disrupt the Disruption: disruptions can be caused by or cause for negative sentiments, prejudices, conspiracy theories, unfounded conclusions, and so on. Perpetuating any of these only deepens the hurt and the wound of the disruption. Giving space for processing and healing does not mean giving permission for deepening the wound.   
• Care for One Another: people are impacted by disruptions in a variety of ways. And there are those who are impacted more than others. Some are on the front lines and some are direct victims. Be it small or large ways, we need to be actively present. There is no space for passivity. 

I realize many of these sentiments have already been shared: to parents learning to balance working from home and teaching from home; to our healthcare, delivery, grocery, sanitation, essential needs heroes who continue to leave their homes to serve; to our society as a whole who have had to make intentional shifts by prioritizing staying in for the care of the whole, a mindset shift that can elicit anxiety and depression...   

I can only hope that these sentiments, these active provisions of the human heart, might pervade our societal norms long after we as a collective fight past this disruption. Then when we confront the next disruption, whether it impacts 10% or 100% of our society, we know from the get-go that we need to be in this together, that our humanity binds us together. 

What we do now and after matters.     

Grateful for nature during this time of shelter in place...