After reading the New York Times article yesterday with inaccurate information about Peru, I felt the need to get outside and clear my head. I rode to the ocean on my new bike, with a strong wind blowing in my face. The waves were turbulent but the sound calmed me. The sky and clouds and ocean are vast, more than the eye can see at one glance. Looking up, helped me gain perspective.
I meditated on “community” and how we could care for each other. Most opponents of lifting the Covid-19 restrictions believe it is detrimental to the whole, putting people at risk. Proponents of lifting the restrictions believe it helps the community socially and economically. Both sides quote “facts” and “science” to support their point of view. (Let’s hope neither one is using the New York Times or Fox News for their facts.) Most would agree that statistics, facts and science can all be skewed to say whatever might support the case one wants to make.
Some weeks ago, on the day I had disagreements with two close friends, I asked if we could agree to disagree without having to make the other one wrong. This is my prayer for all of us now. During this period of lifting restrictions in whatever form each community and each country chooses, we can care about each other and the well being of all. I hope we can wish good health to shoppers and cashiers, chefs and diners, ministers and church-goers and workers in their offices, in the same way we do for those who stay home, without a desire to make some of them right and some of them wrong.
I trust caring for community can hold many points of view.