Thursday, April 9, 2020

If Only for a Moment


On my morning walks I pass few, if any people. I am blessed with living next to a rural area so my company is usually the ravens and robins, cows and the occasional llama.  But ever so often I do meet people and we quickly, almost intuitively decide who is best suited to create distance. The other day, for example, I was nearing home when up ahead I spied a mom and dad toting three kids—a baby and two toddlers. To my left was impassable brambles and to my right, a normally busy road that separates my neighbourhood from the farms. And while not full of its usual traffic, the byway was certainly not empty. The choice for me, as it would have been for anyone, was obvious; I went out into the street to give them clear distance.

Now while there was nothing heroic in this deed, it was the mother’s response that made me almost drop to my knees. All she said was “thank you” but it was as if I had been swept over by a tsunami of emotions. I not only felt her gratitude but all that lay beneath her simple thanks: the worries and fears; the days stretching to weeks and months, the kids and their future, the lack of work and school, the unpaid bills, a partner falling ill … dying.

From the wave that came over me it felt like she had been holding on to all these unknowns and uncertainties for days, maybe weeks. Perhaps sharing them with her partner, perhaps not, but swimming in the mire of quarantine confusion just looking for a rope, any kind of rope, to pull herself out. I doubt she saw me as a life line or was even looking for a willing container to hold her emotions but in those few moments of receiving what I felt to be inside her, we gifted each other with a shared sense of humanity.

In this time of isolation and fear, we can do much for others, and ultimately ourselves, with the simplest of deeds. Let us not forget how much a phone call, a word of thanks, a smile can do to. If only for a moment, our actions can provide the courage for another to keep going, to take the next step. If only for a moment, our hearts can open and we are forever changed. If only for a moment, our humanity can shine through and continue to expand into the next. If only for a moment ...
 



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4 comments:

  1. Thanks for sharing this story. It is so true, maybe even more so now, but seemingly small gestures on our part can be a special blessing to others.

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  2. Thank you, Bonnie, for writing and sharing.

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  3. This is such a beautiful piece. I enjoy your writing very much, and I felt so many feelings while reading this. I have for many weeks thought of the young families such as the one you describe here, and how hard it must be for parents with very young children to isolate during this pandemic, to try to explain why we cannot go to play dates, or to tea at Grandma's, or on the bus, or to the store or the park. Most of us can manage but I feel for the parents of the very young, and how hard it must be for them. Pauline Perry perry94022 at hotmail dot com

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  4. Thank you for writing, Pauline. I am glad I was able to communicate what I was feeling. Those feelings can still come over me whenever I pass some one on the street or trail when the morning air is still and quiet. Not with everyone mind you but ever so often, with certain encounters, with hearts open and willing, our humanity shines through and we are gifted.

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