Commentary: Silver Linings During the Pandemic

By Kathryn Gordon

There seems to be plenty to fret about these days, a pandemic, the news, long lines and new procedures at the market, inability to gather with friends and family for social reasons or important family traditions and ceremonies. Wasn’t life hard enough before we had to worry, that something invisible to the naked eye, could be lurking around every corner, waiting to take us out? Some have lost jobs and wonder what the future holds, those who live alone may feel isolated, those who cohabitate may be questioning the viability of what, under normal circumstances, would be a perfectly good relationship. Some people might be sick of their own cat, and many cats are surely wondering why their humans are hanging around ALL the time – you’ve seen “the look”.

This brings to mind one of the tritest sayings of all time, “every cloud has a silver lining.” We all get it, good things do arise from even the worst situations, and humans often rise to the occasion in unexpected ways. To investigate some of the ways we have seen improvements or positive effects in our lives, as a result of the pandemic, I took an informal poll to see what people are feeling grateful for these days. 

Tales of food sharing were plentiful; gardeners are gardening and dropping off their bounties to friends. 

Lots of folks cooking and baking up a storm. A few are learning to cook, using YouTube and social media cooking groups to get ideas and recipes.

Artists and musicians are creating, finding new ways to perform using the internet and also looking inward, writing new material. New songs, paintings, poems, literary works, all pouring out of creative people who finally have time to slow down and create.  

Time is being found for the all-important practice that goes into learning or improving at playing any instrument. People have noticed a willingness to squeeze in practice, singing, piano, guitar, violin… because it’s not really squeezing right now.

Deeper concern and empathy for others, and a willingness to conform for the greater good, something our society has not been confronted with or considers much but is a welcome side effect of these uncertain times.

The homeless population is being looked after to some degree, not enough, but efforts to shelter and provide some level of protection to a portion of this population is being made now. 

Zoom calls and parties are a thing, families, who are close but live in different states, have Zoomed, and everyone is “together” laughing and joking and catching up. In most cases that never happened before, we had the technology, but no one thought to do it. 

Cleaning is happening, not just junk drawers and closets, but buildings and public places, to a degree that has never even been thought of let alone attempted before. People are being told to cover their mouths when coughing on the nightly news, who knew such a large portion of the population did not know to do this? More hand washing, cleaner surfaces, mouth covering, heck we should have the healthiest year on record if these protocols remain in place.  

Respect for medical professionals, we may have taken them for granted, just a bit, many people are noticing just how much we need them now. 

Respect for grocery store and other “essential” workers, that was never a thing.  It is now, good for us.  

We are calling friends and relatives more often and checking on each other, good for us.

Pet adoptions are up.  

One more for good measure; a sense of Unity among all of humanity. Sounds a bit dramatic but we do have a little of that going on and should try and hang on to some of this goodness as we try and get back to “normal”. 

Kathryn Gordon is a Felton resident.

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