A Life Worth Defending

Life, although it may only be an accumulation of anguish, is dear to me, and I will defend it.

Mary Shelley, Frankenstein

In the midst of our current situation - quarantine, COVID-19, shortages on toilet paper and lemonade (of all things) - we continue to have no shortage of divergent perspectives. I recognize that I am extremely fortunate. No one in my family is dealing with a job loss. I happen to like my husband and enjoy quarantining with him. I do not have small children to raise in isolation or high schoolers to keep on track with their schoolwork. I am a blessed woman.

AND I am acutely aware of those who are struggling with an accumulation of anguish. How do you manage living in NYC with a partner who needs daily radiation to treat her recurrence of cancer? How do you sit at home in Atlanta while your sister passes away after a massive stroke in NC? Our normal life sufferings - life and death, sickness and health - are all disrupted. We are still getting sick, dying, healing, and living - but without the accoutrements of hospital visits and funerals and reasonably safe travel to and fro. For many, normal life suffering has escalated and accumulated.

What a time we live in. This is the time we sit and ponder and remember what we value when nothing feels at risk. We love life; it is dear to us; we will defend it.

So my relatives in NYC are given the loan of a car to help them travel safely for those daily treatments; we pause the funerals and press on in our mourning. We celebrate our recoveries and appreciate our health. We find joy where we can without forgetting that for many, it has been lost in transit.

How can we ease the accumulation today? What can we do to remind ourselves that our planet is blue and green, a virtual breeding ground for suffering AND also a place of rebirth, renovation and restoration? How can we appropriately lament the losses and nourish the thriving? What is your superpower? How will you use it today?