The autumnal equinox is coming. We’ve officially been dealing with COVID-19 for six months and five days. My thermostat doesn’t know what season we are in. It’s dark by 7 pm now, and sunrise doesn’t happen until at least 6:30 am, so it’s hard to get out of bed in the morning.
This morning, it was 39 degrees – yikes! Long pants, long sleeves, layers and gloves. What happened? Where did summer go? Why is the world upside down? Evil continues to march forward, unabated, it seems, as decency is trampled with every COVID death and every unimaginable loss. How is it possible that the malfeasance of those currently in power is allowed, and allowed to go unpunished?
Our hero for equality, Justice Ruth Bader Ginsburg, left us this weekend, too. She did all she could for as long as her health would allow. When things seem bleak in this upside-down surreal year, things just seem to get more so. It would be easy to huddle under the covers and wait for change – if you’re okay with someone else’s version of life as we know it. If you’re okay with topsy-turvy chaos. If you’re okay with your rights evaporating before your eyes because they don’t serve someone else’s greed or ego.
This is the year of our collective reckoning. This is the year that the entire cosmos cracks open and reveals the truth – ugly or otherwise. This is the year that we contend with our personal demons, shed our skin and emerge anew. The butterfly analogy is trite but appropriate – dissolving what once was to create something completely different. No more can we keep our heads in the sand, our mouths shut, go along to get along. Those days are over.
It’s heavy. It’s a lot. There is so much chaotic energy in the world these days, it can be difficult to take and challenging to navigate. But we must get up, and walk into the wind to bring about necessary change.
I hope you’re holding up.