An article from my blog

“Listen to the mustn'ts, child. Listen to the don'ts. Listen to the shouldn'ts, the impossibles, the won'ts. Listen to the never haves, then listen close to me... Anything can happen, child. Anything can be.”
― Shel Silverstein

Many of us of a certain age wake up one day and suddenly realize just how old we really are. Some of us say something like, “Wow! Really?” while others go into a complete meltdown. I was one of the latter. For some reason I chose to focus on what I had not accomplished, what I had not done with my life, and that my life was half over, instead of what I had and what I could still accomplish, including (I hope) many years remaining to do those things I'd missed. The glass is half empty rather than half full scenario. And that's a pretty sad, not to mention self absorbed, way of looking at things. It's also unabashedly pessimistic.

Part of having an optimistic attitude is the ability to see beyond the immediate crisis and imagine a better day ahead. Sometimes it can be hard to actually believe in what we're imagining, but the fact that we can imagine it at all is a sign that we haven't lost hope.

I've written before about courage and hope. As the global crisis goes on they, and our optimism, are becoming more and more vital. Hearing day in and day out about the growing numbers of those affected, and the number of those who have succumbed, will eat away at anyone's optimism. It's easy to believe that contracting the virus is an instant death sentence. While accepting those dire numbers, as well as the grim reality of what the virus is capable of, I've chosen to consider that people are also surviving the corona virus. We don't hear nearly as much about them. Maybe a report now and then of an individual but very few of the overall numbers. Perhaps the powers that be believe that sharing that information will water down the very real danger that the virus represents, allowing us believe that the threat isn't as bad as the numbers would indicate. But I prefer to believe that we need to hear of survivors. We need the injection of hope.

I follow a particular group on Facebook that enjoys finding the humor in life, but there is no joking about the corona virus. No one in the group ever considers that a remote possibility. Instead, they focus on the absurdities of the human condition. There have been a lot of humorous references to the great toilet paper shortage of 2020 and the frustrations of being isolated or quarantined with and without a spouse and kids. There have also been some biting commentaries and satire about things that would be funny only to the most heartless among us. The senseless stupidity of the spring breakers in Florida is a prime example of this. One person posted a picture of a packed beach of revelers with a succinct summation of their character and mentality emblazoned across the top. It was like putting a match to embers. The response was overwhelming and as of my last check there had been well over 400 responses, none of them complimentary toward the people in the picture. Still, the members of the group didn't lose focus of their “job” to find the humor in a very grim situation. Once they had summarily denounced those living it up on spring break they went back to finding the ridiculous in our crisis behaviors. They are among our sentinels of hope. If we can keep some lightness in our hearts despite it all we are not defeated.

To give up hope is to die, figuratively as well as literally, so we keep our hope alive by focusing on our faith that better times lie ahead. We remind ourselves, as often as necessary, that there will be an end to the pandemic and we put much of our hope and optimism into believing that a vaccine will be found that will protect us against future outbreaks. We believe we will survive this and we show our faith and optimism by how we have responded with solidarity and humor. If there is a silver lining to this storm it is that the world is pulling together. We have a common enemy. We have an unquenchable hope.