Good morning,
Good afternoon,
Or good evening.
I'd like to read to you a letter entitled,
An Imagined Letter from COVID-19 to Humans.
These are not my words.
At the end of the reading,
Which should take about three or four minutes,
I will do my best to give credit to the author.
Here we go.
An Imagined Letter from COVID-19 to Humans.
Stop,
Just stop.
It is no longer a request,
It is a mandate.
We will help you.
We will bring the supersonic,
High-speed merry-go-round to a halt.
We will stop the planes,
The trains,
The schools,
The malls,
The meetings,
The frenetic,
Furied rush of allusions and obligations that keep you from hearing our single and shared beating heart,
The way we breathe together in unison.
Our obligation is to each other as it always has been,
Even if,
Even though you have forgotten.
We will interrupt this broadcast,
The endless cacophonous broadcast of divisions and distractions to bring you this long-breaking news.
We are not well,
None of us.
All of us are suffering.
Last year,
The firestorms that scorched the lungs of the earth did not give you pause,
Nor the typhoons in Africa,
China,
Japan,
Nor the fevered climates in Japan and India.
You have not been listening.
It is hard to listen when you are so busy all the time,
Hustling to uphold the comforts and conveniences that scaffold your lives,
But the foundation is giving way,
Buckling under the weight of your needs and desires.
We will help you.
We will bring the firestorms to your body.
We will bring the fever to your body.
We will bring the burning,
Searing,
And flooding to your lungs that you might hear,
We are not well.
Despite what you might think or feel,
We are not the enemy.
We are messenger,
We are ally,
We are a balancing force.
We are asking you to stop,
To be still,
To listen,
To move beyond your individual concerns and consider the concerns of all,
To be with your ignorance,
To find your humility,
To relinquish your thinking minds and travel deep into the mind of the heart,
To look up into the sky streaked with fewer planes and see it,
To notice its condition,
Clear,
Smoky,
Smoggy,
Rainy.
How much do you need it to be healthy so that you may also be healthy?
To look at a tree and see it,
To notice its condition,
How does its health contribute to the health of the sky,
To the air you need to be healthy?
To visit a river and see it,
To notice its condition,
Clear,
Clean,
Murky,
Polluted?
How much do you need it to be healthy so that you may also be healthy?
How does its health contribute to the health of the tree who contributes to the health of the sky so that you may also be healthy?
Many are afraid now.
Do not demonize your fear and also do not let it rule you.
Instead,
Let it speak to you in your stillness,
Listen for its wisdom.
What might it be telling you about what is at work,
At issue,
At risk,
Beyond the threats of personal inconvenience and illness?
As the health of a tree,
A river,
The sky,
Tells you about the quality of your own health,
What might the quality of your health tell you about the health of the rivers,
The trees,
The sky,
And all of us who share this planet with you?
Stop.
Notice if you are resisting.
Notice what you are resisting.
Ask why.
Stop.
Just stop.
Be still.
Listen.
Ask us what we might teach you about illness and healing,
About what might be required so that all may be well.
We will help you if you listen.
The end.
This was written,
I think,
By Kristen Flintz,
K-R-I-S-T-I-N,
F-L-Y-N-T-Z.
My friend Melanie Hirsch brought it to my attention and I found it on metarand.
Com.
That's M-E-T-A-R-A-N-D.
Com.
Thank you for listening.
