Listen to Jim Reed’s Red Clay Diary podcast: https://youtu.be/nYg-Sbq1gCM
or read the transcript (below):
JOLLITY AND FEAR JOIN FORCES IN A DEEP SOUTH VILLAGE
One slightly hopeful result of this self-imposed exile of anxious souls is that we have more time to regard one another. And ourselves.
Taking time to take a deep breath does not come easy. Rote habits tend to override the opportunity to pause and assess our trajectories. The day-to-day rush to meet obligations distracts us from having to deal with anything too uncomfortable. When a free moment does occur, we impulsively turn to social media to make us feel as if we are busy and engaged.
Well, here in isolation, my untethered mind is free to cast about for new experiences, fresh attitudes. I have time to re-animate routines, rearrange deck chairs, tweak agendas, re-regard family and friends and customers and vendors and servers, reassign their value in my life.
It’s quite a task, this arising from the depths of self-concern to look about and say, “What have I been missing?”
It turns out I’ve been missing out on what passes for real life down here on earth.
It’s interesting that the more people mask-up for protection, the more they become human, engaging, humane to each other. I suppose the masks are signs that pass between us, saying something like, “I’m trying to protect myself, but I’m also trying to protect the lives and well-being of people I love as well as people I don’t know and may never know.”
Suddenly we are becoming helpmates to a common good we were too busy to notice in pre-isolation times.
I know, I know—masking up frightens us, makes us feel we’re giving up something we once treasured, makes us a tad suspicious of whether facts on hand are being manipulated, whether we are being manipulated, makes us grumpy at times.
But what I am noticing in the heart of this village in which I ply my trade and live my life…what I am noticing is that some folks are feeling pride for their tiny sacrifices, some are reaching out beyond their masks and doing good deeds for other, more vulnerable people.
In a surprising way, these masks and distancings are constantly reminding us that, as independent as we are allowed to be in this country, we are still free to do good for ourselves and others, of our own free will. We are exercising our right to show kindness to one another.
Maybe that means we are all worthwhile. Maybe there’s hope for the world.
Just sayin’
© Jim Reed 2020 A.D.