elizabethlevett

I’ll have one more cup of coffee. Next, I’ll wash the rest of the breakfast dishes, dry them, and put them away. Then I’ll brush my hair and maybe even put on a little make-up. Have to take out the compost. If the rain lets up I’ll work in the garden. Want to do some yoga and work with my weights today. That’s all I need to think about right now. That’s about it. Later on I can make some phone calls and check in with a few friends who live alone. Some things I’ll even write down on a list for the day. It’s all very deliberate, I notice. It’s all done slowly. There’s no reason to over-plan. There’s no reason to rush through anything either. It’s just today.

People are saying that this time is important, significant. They say that mother earth is doing this so she has a chance to recover from our constant assaults. So this is a good thing then? While it’s true that we aren’t crowding into airports or speeding down the freeway, assuring ourselves that somehow our quests are necessary, it’s hard for me to call this pandemic a good thing. Yes, there are many, many of us on this blessed little blue rock. Yes, we want too much and too quickly. But still, so many have suffered and so many have died and so many are facing unemployment and the looming possibility of losing their homes. To say that the earth is doing this deliberately, I just don’t know. Yes, there is a moment, an opportunity for the natural world to breathe a little easier without so many planes in the sky and ships full of plastic junk in the bay, but we’re paying a very heavy price, or maybe even debt for this brief respite from our polluting.

I’ve also heard some who want to construct theories of conspiracy or make predictions for the future. It’s all going to change, they say, you wait. But I don’t need to wait. Everything is changing all the time. Even at this moment. For me there is no comfort in indulging in some grand, sweeping scenario. Maybe the change is just this, the knowledge that there is nothing for us to do but be still a little. Just for right now. Maybe have another cup of coffee. Then wash the dishes, dry them off, and put them away. Very deliberately.