Hope is about believing
with a humble heart
that tomorrow can be different.
It’s about knowing
that light will come
to chase away this darkness.
Looking around social media the last few days
it seems impossible to avoid the rising anxiousness and worry even in this small community. Much faster than the virus this “bug” is spreading with every interaction and not just one-to-one.
This is very concerning as it is stressful, and may cause unneighborly behavior such as purchasing more groceries than is actually needed.
Two things come to my mind,
Let’s not pre-stress ourselves.
When I have my blood tested I am not stressed in advance, I wait until I am face to face with the lab worker and I get through it. Then I am past it. 50% of my stress is reduced if only experience it when it happens.
See the light, not the dark.
I am always amazed when camping, there is so much absence of light that I can really see the stars. As I walk at night there is so much light from windows, street lights, outdoor street lights. Yes there are some patches of darkness but mostly it is pretty light outside especially when there is snow or a full moon.
There never was night that had no morn. – Dinah Mulock Craik
A bug of negativity, fear, and unkindness is at risk of spreading and that scares me.
“I’ve learned that people will forget what you said, people will forget what you did, but people will never forget how you made them feel.” – Maya Angelou
Long after this health and economic crisis passes people will remember experiences that made them feel hurt or the kindnesses shown.
How nice it would be if it was the latter.
I believe many people remarked how kind New Yorker strangers were to one another during and after the 9-11 shocking event. What a positive remembrance. (Google it for yourselves, kindness and heroes amidst the smoke and uncertainty)
Which experience will I leave others from this darkness? I hope it will be the positive one.
Thanks for taking the time for this post. I appreciate your comments and suggestions. – best wishes to all. – David
Life and Random Thinking 
You are so right. It just takes a few to purpose to show kindness to others and I think it’s as catching as the other “bug”.
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Thank you for your comment. The kindness bug is one we can infect ourselves with and the outcome will be inner peace.
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It’s hard to navigate the craziness. I felt myself plunging when my own family reverted to lunacy. I worry my kids will remember my frustration over said lunacy instead of my pragmatic approach to tricky situations.
Keep healthy over there. 🙂
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I imagine it is more difficult in the larger centres. I am confident your kids will remember how you stayed calm in the storm, and helped them.
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Beautiful pictures Dave, and a lovely thought. Keep in mind we personally get to enjoy it because we both got the gift of life from someone we never had the chance to meet. (other than your second time)
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My third transplant Bob. 86 quick failure and nearly died. 87 almost failed, came back and lasted 31 years. 2019 living donor who gave as part of closed chain, I know zip about the actual donor except they were a close match, but I consider my buddy from Summerland my donor as he made it possible for it all to happen, his unselfish sacrifice.
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I should add also thank you Bob for your kind reminder. I am blessed and grateful, deeply and happily so.
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Good reminders.
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I love your points!
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Thanks Cindy, much appreciate your encouragement.
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I really loved your blog post and it has calmed me. I watched a video from Italy and people were singing standing on their little balconies because they are in quarantine. Music and singing all over. So beautiful the human spirit. Thank you so much. Much love ❤️
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❤️🙏 my heart was touched by your kindness with your response to my post. I also the balcony scene and enjoyed it. How heartwarming. Thank you
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There are many positive learning experiences and time for reflection during this pandemic. I prefer to stay positive, take precautions, and hope for the best. Stay safe and healthy, David!
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I hope you stay safe and healthy also. My wife will make sure I am realistic and not underestimate the risk. I like the idea of remaining positive, and if I stay at home I will have no excuse not to clean my office ! Yay!
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A timely message. I went to the grocery store in my small town for my weekly run and was amazed at the empty shelves and crowds compared to last week. Most people looked gloomy, but one lady and I shared a smile and a laugh at the craziness of it all during a traffic jam in one of the aisles. It’s all about perspective – if running out of toilet paper is our worst problem of the day we should consider ourselves lucky.
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Your smile and chuckle says it all, if you can keep your humor then I believe that and your positive attitude will see you through.
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Beautiful photos and words Dave, The quotes were very good also. And the one thing I have noticed over my life time is that there will always be hard times, they come and they go. And they will help us to get stronger and hopefully wiser as time goes on.
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An excellent point, the world never stops, and to keep up hope. When my chances of new transplant were 2 percent and I faced a strong likelihood of dying on dialysis, my wise supportive wife reminded me that 2 percent was not zero. Hope renewed she helped me to stay positive despite dialysis and a year later I had my miracle. Even if I hadn’t had my miracle, living life being positive is a better way to live, and I was still alive!
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Oh so true Dave, you have been through a lot and have come out on the other side, and now sharing your beautiful photos and words to help others see the hope and light. There will be dark days even after this one. That is part of life. I wish I could say it will be all roses and sparkles. But I and you and others would not be where we are today if not going through the trials at some point. Have a wonderful day Dave.
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Two thoughts: first, living in The Big Apple I can feel the strength of my fellow New Yorkers as we acknowledge each other with a nod or a smile as we pass each other on the sidewalk or in the park as we walk our dogs. I hope it remains as times become even tougher. Second, as the wife of a metastatic lung cancer patient I totally understand your attitude toward worry — there is enough to go around so wait until you have to think about it to face it! Cheers.
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New Yorkers nod and smile at strangers? Fabulous. I appreciate you commenting and visiting.
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Great reminders and perspective to stay calm and see the beauty that is right in front of us.
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🙏🙏🙏. We all need reminding sometimes.
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This is great reminder, Dave. At a time when it is most needed. You’re right, I remember walking the street of New York a few days after 9/11 and kindness was everywhere.I still remember it.It’s lesson well learned.
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That is cool George that you have first hand experience of how New Yorkers responded with kindness. I appreciate you reading and sharing.
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This is a lovely, thoughtful post in these trying times, David. Today I noticed that people were much more polite in the supermarket today, keeping a good distance and not being greedy. There are notes all over telling people what their limit should be – 4 packets of pasta for example. I love that there have been suggestions, locally and further afield, that elderly and immune compromised people should have the first hour for shopping when the stores have been fully disinfected. The singing from the Italian balconies also warms my heart.
Keep calm and well. K x
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Enjoyed your news and encouraging comment. We have two mornings a week for seniors and others with health issues to shop at the grocery stores. Most dining rooms closed, take out only. Library and community centres closed. Surreal.
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That’s great to hear, David. We need to care for our whole community. Thank goodness for Netflix – it will help to keep us sane. We can’t go outside because of the dratted pollen. If you hear about a crazed woman in Texas who killed her ‘working at home’ husband with his own geological specimens – that will be me…
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“See the light, not the dark.” I like that! There is much to celebrate even as we isolate ourselves. I’m thankful for blogosphere, Facebook, etc.–ways to stay connected even as we’re apart. I’m thankful we still have power and clean water (unlike the days/weeks after hurricanes). I’m thankful for a stack of books to read, checked out of the library not long before they closed. I’m thankful for Skype so we can still see our grandchildren (even though they live only ten minutes away). And I’m just getting started! Basking in the light is much more fun than cowering in the dark.
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Your natural optimistic attitude is showing 👍
Light is a wonderful image, what a difference if you light a candle in a dark room.
Thank you for visiting 🙏🙏
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You said it! This is so comforting for all the people around who are concerned and panicking. We need to slow down and enjoy the process with the positive attitude. Thank you so much for the post. 🙂
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Thank you for visiting and reading it. ♥
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We are very much on the same page with you. Spreading kindness is one thing we can do to bringing hope and light to people during these dark times.
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Nice to meet you Sue 👍, best wishes to you and Dave. Hope and light is needed and it’s up to each individual. Some won’t but thankfully many will shine. A neighbor did our grocery shopping for us today, as we are healthy but high risk because of my transplant meds
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Wonderful to see another example of the kindness of others. Stay well.
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Amazing 💯💯…worth reading 😄…do visit my page too and follow…thanks!
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