This Too Shall Pass
Right now there is a lot to celebrate, and also a lot to grieve. The golf-playing reality-TV show host is on his way out of the White House. The new Administration is already taking steps to reverse the current one’s racist and classist policies. There are three COVID-19 vaccines on the verge of mass production, with still more on the horizon. The stock market is booming like never before. But at the same time, the outbreak is currently far worse than it ever was before, with hospitals filling up before the Thanksgiving holiday and likely to be overwhelmed with cases in its aftermath (some hospitals already are, which is terrifying for the coming weeks). Living-wage jobs are at an all time low. There is no governmental Covid Relief package anywhere in sight.
At times like these, it can be very tempting to “lock in” on a piece of news, good or bad, and let it dominate your existence. It doesn’t have to be national or global news either; news at the family or personal level has even more potential to control your outlook on life. When the news is bad, everything is dark, sinister, and hopeless. When the news is good, everything shines or glows, food tastes better, and joy abounds in every corner and niche. The roller coaster can be exhausting at best, and life-threatening at worst.
When it seems like there is no way to tame the constant sturm-und-dreng of life, something that helps me is the ancient “this too shall pass” exercise. Focusing on this phrase reminds us that every single thing in this world, including ourselves, is temporary. Nothing lasts; the only constant is change. Whenever we get swept up in the news of the moment, seeing and recognizing that it is only a moment can help to ground us and keep us stable. For me, it’s somehow comforting to know that the world with all its victories and defeats and rises and falls and sunshine and storms will keep on doing its thing, with or without me, regardless of how I feel about it at any given moment.
Of course, all this is easy for me to write on my Wifi-connected PC in the comfort of my well-heated, well-stocked home. For someone who is out on the street, hungry, injured, and/or completely alone these words may sound pretty smug to them. But I write them in the hope that they will help the reader get through today or this moment and onto the next moment, on and on.
Bike Newbie 