Dear Editor:
For the last few weeks, I have been very entertained seeing small children at the park from my kitchen window. Dressed mostly in sensible rubber boots and rainwear they spend their time in the constant puddles that the rain so graciously has provided. The younger they are the more fun they appear to have with the huge puddles near the play equipment. The little legs jumping high to make the best impact on the water, squeals I can hear from within my closed windows are also heard within my heart, I never tire of this scene or the welcomed smiles to my face.
As a senior who takes the COVID restrictions quite seriously, it gets a bit tiring at the loss of social connections, and ability to leave the house and meet up for coffee or have people over. Of course, I am thankful for the friends and family I have in my life, but it is a community loneliness that is present in me. Those organic times we bump into others and can spend some time together, hugs and closeness taken for granted. Sometimes (well maybe more than sometimes as I grow older) I can be a pain in the behind or sometimes I may see others as a pain. BUT I MISS YOU ALL IN MY LIFE !!
My mind thinks back to the Twin Towers attacks. After the towers were hit, I remember reading how people ran trying to get away from the flames and smoke some covered in dust and debris. Large numbers ran in the direction of the Hudson River, the Coast Guard became concerned about all the people and put out an unusual call to any boats in the area to pick up some of the hundreds of thousands of people needing to be evacuated. Even in the hard times life continues happening, we need each other, and the hope community brings.
A tragedy, but maybe a beautiful example of people responding to others needs.
It’s the holiday season, maybe a time we become more aware of the needs of those around us. My prayer is when this terrible pandemic is over, when remember the times when we have felt alone and lonely, we also remember those who came to our shoreline to offer comfort, and, also, the gift of being comfort to another. Disasters can bring us together and strengthen the ties that bind us.
May the fruits of 2020 be truly feeling the embrace of a caring community that brings warms our hearts on the bleakest of our days. Like the old Coca Cola song “I ’d like to see the world for once all standing hand in hand and hear it echo through the hills for peace throughout the land “
Hope Springs Eternal.
Anne White
Harrison Hot Springs
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