A reality check: two years later, the coronavirus death count just reached one million, and I had to look back. So many lives lost and so many families have changed forever—a favorite aunt, a precious grandma, an inspiring mother, taken from this earth too early. And yes, reality continues to be questioned today with Congress stalling for two months on future COVID funding. https://www.beckershospitalreview.com/finance/covid-19-funding-and-congress-no-clear-path-forward.html
So has our reality changed that much in two years?
Here’s an excerpt from my book, Coronavirus Reflections: Bitter or Better? to see where we were in 2020 and let’s step back in time.
Chapter Nine
WHOSE REALITY TODAY IS REAL?
“Seize the moments of happiness, love and be loved! That is the only reality in the world, all else is folly.”
Leo Tolstoy
May 24, 2020
What does the future hold for us? It’s the end of May 2020, and not a lot has changed—the coronavirus rages. The death count continues to increase daily, with it nearing 100,000 in the United States.
Amid this pandemic, people’s reactions shock me! One person posted on my Facebook page that this virus isn’t dangerous. Tell that to the families mourning 99,031 deaths. Tell that to the world whose losses stand today at 345,554 at 2:00 p.m. this sunny Sunday after‐ noon. I shudder at this callous response to this tragedy—it is dangerous and heartbreaking! Today, I choose empathy and compassion for the losses, for the pain, for the struggle, and I continue to wonder about our collective future.
In my circle of family and friends, I know someone who was diagnosed with COVID-19 in mid-March and is still experiencing symptoms ten weeks later. Some say it’s just like the flu. I’ve never had a flu that lasted that long.
What Do We Face?
April 1, 2020
The future always felt
Predictable.
Not now!
Not post-coronavirus pandemic,
Not after the deaths,
The insanity,
The world in turmoil!
What’s coming?
Social distancing
’til April 30,
The whole month.
More cases
More deaths!
100,000s dead?
1,000,000s sick?
The uncertainty
No one knows
For sure,
But why?
Our tech age believed
We could control,
Order,
Orchestrate the world.
But no!
Here we stand frozen
Paralyzed
Isolated.
2020—
with all its advances
can’t contain
this small
tiny
Enemy.
It controls us!
The USA
Ill-prepared
So sad,
But so true!
World leaders, a part of the problem,
Yes,
But China lied!
Would the authorities have acted differently
If they knew the truth?
Not 81,000 deaths in China
But possibly forty times that amount!
3,240,000
Oh my God!
We will never know.
Where are we headed?
Done and recovered
And back to normal
At the end of April?
May?
September?
I haven’t even a thought
About our financial losses
Not in the wake of the deaths,
The sickness and trauma,
The despair!
We’re all in the same boat
Headed somewhere,
Destination unknown
God, help us!
The coronavirus catapulted me farther into a stark face-to-face confrontation with reality. Reality—different to different people? I thought I knew what reality was. I’m an intelligent human being, but the polarization of our country over wearing masks and the coronavirus has me reeling. Who do I believe? Is it a hoax?
I find myself defending my stance of believing in the severity of the coronavirus and adhering to the mandates set in place nationally by the CDC and locally by our state government. Depending on which news source you subscribe to, friends and family members appear to me to be out of touch. Or is it me?
I’ve struggled with reality my whole life, wanting to live in a LaLa Land of my own making, but adulthood and recovery forced me to grow up, move out of that imaginary land into the territory of the REAL.
Reality Check
April 2, 2020
The sun keeps shining.
The world spins.
Night follows day.
On the surface,
Normal is constant.
Yet the massive choirs
Of heartbroken cries resound
Across the dusty plains
Down through the fertile valleys
Atop the snow-topped mountains
Through the quiet deserts.
Human kind is under attack
A virus war zone!
People die;
The number mounts!
Doesn’t matter his color
Her Ethnicity
His Religion
No immunity!
The coronavirus kills,
Has no prejudices,
Is not judicious in its target.
The massive grief grows.
The weight of the pain stresses
This world to its limit.
A mother
A father
A daughter
Die alone
Not a hand to hold
No last kiss and hug!
And it’s not just the virus’s victims,
But anyone unlucky enough
To die now
Like my dear friend, Jan.
Her two daughters and grandson stood vigilant
Outside her door
No kiss
No touch
No hug
Only death!
And FaceTime
On an iPhone!
Such sterile technology
At a time
When she needed familiar touch.
Hearts break in unison,
Too many to count—
Exponential pain multiplied
By this devastation!
Yet the sun rises.
Days melt into weeks.
Pain from this horror lingers
Forever
An acrid taste in my mouth
And
Heart.
I know our realities might differ. Hopefully, somehow, some way, our realities meet and merge.
You may wonder why I keep posting my poems of struggle and uncertainty. I grappled so through this pandemic and recorded it. It certainly helped me; I hope it helps you.
YOUR REFLECTIONS:
At the end of May 2020, how did you handle all the conflicting information thrown at us?
Looking back after two years, my heart aches for where we were and all the losses in between. And reality still is questionable, so we needed another reality check now.
Dare you look back to 2020 and what you were feeling in mid-May 2020? Do a reality check today and think about how you have grown better, not bitter over the last two years.
~NEWEST PODCAST to be released Thursday, March 17, 2022, discussing my new book, Coronavirus Reflections: Bitter or Better? : Live on Purpose Podcast at https://liveonpurposeradio.com/category/podcast/
~MY FIRST AUDIOBOOK IS AVAILABLE: Go to Audible to buy my first audiobook, Let Me Tell You a Story. I’m working on Coronavirus Reflections: Bitter or Better? but have gotten stalled with shingles.
~Do you listen to podcasts? Here are three podcasts with interviews about my new book & some Flippo stories:
~Have you bought a copy of Flippo’s biography yet? Believe it or not—it’s been two years. Go here for your hardback or paperback: https://www.laradasbooks.com or at Amazon.
~For me, it’s Christmas all year long! Here’s a variety of Christmas greetings from Flippo & Neeca, featuring his song, “When It’s Christmas Time in Texas”: https://youtu.be/mpJCUGffU3A
~What happened to you in 2020-2021 during the coronavirus pandemic? Do you care? Are you on a spiritual path? Do you want to heal from the horrible effects of the pandemic of 2020? Visit my website to find out about my new book, Coronavirus Reflections: Bitter or Better? and my other five books and three cookbooks: https://laradasbooks.com
Thanks for the reflections and poetry to look back on 2 years ago. It is a sad truth that some things have not changed.
And I appreciate the reminder about those who didn’t have human touch at the end of their lives. So sad.
I am so sorry for your losses.