I ventured out for a walk today to break the isolation and passed by a neighbor’s house with two colorful, seemingly child-created signs in the window. They read: “The world is still beautiful,” and “We can do hard things.” I almost burst into tears.
The world obviously doesn’t look so beautiful for a lot of people right now - those who are sick, who are treating the sick, who have lost family members, who fear for themselves or their loved ones, who have lost their jobs with no certainty about the future, who cannot pay their bills, who live with anxiety that they will be laid off soon, who cannot balance work and childcare, whose immigration status is now even more uncertain than it already was, whose struggles have fallen off the local, national and global radar because all energies, resources, and attention have diverted to fighting a pandemic.
In recent days, I had video calls with colleagues in Hong Kong and Italy who have been on lockdown for six and three weeks, respectively, one in a hotel room. Consummate professionals and human beings, they still show up for their work, but their demeanor made evident that these times have tested them. Given their own state, their concern for what would soon befall those of us in the U.S. was discomfiting. And we are the optimists, citizen sector professionals who believe that any problem can be solved, that a better world for all is possible. We are also notably the privileged, people with resources who will come out the other side of this with food still on our tables.
And so, as fear and cynicism hover too close for comfort, I needed to see those signs today. It felt like a creed for humanity. In my church, we recite our creed with a repetitive “we believe,” rather than as it is written, “I believe.” This practice matters deeply to me because on days when I struggle to embrace or even understand those beliefs, I can still repeat the creed in unison with my sisters and brothers and let the faith of our community sustain me through my doubts.
So wherever our bodies, minds, hearts, and souls are today, whether we’re sick or healthy, hopeful or hopeless, retreating into ourselves or reaching out to others, fighting the good fight or recharging, seeing light or darkness up ahead, let us repeat together, “The world is still beautiful. And we can do hard things.”
Author: Danielle Goldstone