Pack Animals

It is mid-November, and we have been stuck in the “Twilight Zone” that is life amidst the coronavirus for approximately 9 months now. Nine months has brought us to the start of the winter holiday season, and the Thanksgiving seasons here in the United States. In summary these are the months that we are supposed to huddle close together with family and friends to make it through the cold of winter months. And yet, we are unable to do this. For fear of the virus, for ourselves, for others, we keep distanced at a minimum of 6 feet.  

We quarantine in homes; we keep outside travel to a minimum. We cancel our winter plans to travel across state lines to be nearer to distance family and friends. Here in the hour that we most need each other we are amid an uptick in the virus. Why, is irrelevant, but the fact that it is here and very real is known to all who have had to suspend life, to be well protected. 

And when we can visit on another, it is short lived, and feels like it is not enough. The short visits, that are masked and distant, that are made with overprotective arrangements are a sharp reminder of what we are missing in our daily lives with this virus at hand. Holding on to hope was something that we started this with, now it seems silly to talk of hope, when that is all we are trying to do, hope that things will clear up, some time, someday, some way.  

As winter months set in, homes are lonely, holiday presents are passed through the mail only, and not hand to hand. We are feeling now through the loss, the immense need of our human nature for community. So, we will make community, where we can, via video messenger, but it still is missing what we need—a handshake, a fist bump, a hug.  

I wonder if this is what our ancestors felt when loved ones had to go on long epic trips overseas, into unknown lands, to find a way forward for their people. No, it is not the same, but I can see how the feeling of loneliness, fear, frustration, may be shared with these experiences. In a technological age, that has political strife and division, we are being reminded to come closer in other ways, through our human nature, as pack animals.