Over the past few years I have been doing “prayer on the go” podcasts from my car as I am out and about.  These days, I am not out and about a lot.  In fact, I am happy to stay home and let this COVID thing pass by.  Every day is busy and life is never boring.

COVID cases are up in Niagara again – as they are everywhere as people start to move about more freely.  We are social beings – we WANT to be out and about.  But truly, these are dangerous times.

I went to the Post Office on the main street yesterday.  It’s July and it is typical for the streets to be very crowded in this tourist town.  Groups of people passed by as I waited in the physically-distanced line as one by one we went in to our mailboxes. The passing groups were young and old,  enjoying ice cream or holding a coffee in hand, talking and sharing, enjoying their day.  It could have been any typical summer day.  Unbelievably, very very few of them were wearing masks.

This is a problem.

Yes, it is not possible to eat or drink while masked, but I didn’t see any masks in evidence,  Nothing adorning necks ready to pull up again, nothing peeking out of pockets.  Hmmmmm.

I do not understand this rebellion against something that can save your life and the lives of those whom you love.  The virus is not a hoax – as we can see by skyrocketing numbers around the world.  Some are saying these are just typical numbers of deaths slapped with a COVID label.  Not so.  Talk to any nurse or doctor and they will tell you that what they have been battling is not just your average upper respiratory infection.

Are people just escaping, thinking if they don’t wear a mask the virus will not get them?  Is it an attempt to just pretend that everything is normal as they enjoy their stroll down Queen Street?

Their selfishness can be deadly for someone they may never meet.

We are called to love one another.  To see everyone as a Child of God.  To know in our hearts our deep connection.  We are one race, one family.  Instead, we are witnessing the rise of racism and people acting badly.  Simmering hatred is being openly expressed. We see basic human rights being rolled back.  We see the rise of an ugly, hard-fisted approach to peaceful protests – witness Portland, where protesters are being basically kidnapped in ways that we have seen in the brutal regimes in South America.

Not wearing a mask is a part of this insidious, shadowy unrest.  Somehow people have gotten it into their heads that this is a political thing.  That it is a conspiracy thing.  That NOT wearing a mask expresses their freedom and is a bold assertion of their rights.  (We have the right to be ignorant, I guess.) Meanwhile, their rights and freedoms – OUR rights and freedoms- are slowly being eroded in the backrooms and in bills that are being passed in Ontario as I write this.

The mask thing is a distraction.  We go for the bait every time.

I didn’t mean for this to become a rant. I have cut out many paragraphs just now. lol It is just hard not to feel overwhelmed and helpless in the face of so much fear and chaos.  So many people are emotionally and mentally exhausted from the wear and tear of these times.

Let’s reset.

I am getting my pom poms again. Cheerleader Deb has taken over the keyboard.

We effect the change we want to see.  Maybe it is time for us to come together as community as never before.  To look out for one another.  To share what we have.  To plant vegetable gardens and stock up for what could be a very difficult winter for many.
To celebrate our diversity and honour everyone’s unique gifts and talents.  We need each other.  It is clear to me that the people in power do not always have our best interests at heart.

What is the one thing you can do today to make life a little less stressful for yourself?
What is one thing for which you are truly grateful?
What is one thing that you would like to accomplish or see happen today?
What is one thing that you can do to help someone in need today?

We are powerful.  We are gifted.  We have everything we need to enjoy a successful and happy day.  Set the intention and watch things around you shift.

Have a fantastic and uplifting day!  I am off to visit with some friends at a peach farm in Queenston.  Maybe we will dance in the rain with our masks on.  Appropriately distanced, of course. 😉

Blessings,
+Deb