When Can I Stop Washing My Hands Responsibly?
The other night, my daughter was complaining about how the coronavirus was changing everything in her life.
“No more playdates.”
“No more co-op program for school.”
“We never leave the house anymore.”
I explained again to her the reason why all these changes were taking place, but she was not to be placated.
Finally, I found myself quoting Heraclitus: “You know, change is the only constant in life.”
This was met with a blank stare. I should’ve known better.
But these feelings of animosity toward change are not confined to an 8-year-old child.
Just the other day, I’m standing at the sink watching my chapped hands become even more chapped as I scrub dutifully away at them while counting to twenty.
And I think “When can I stop washing my hands like this?”
I honestly used to think that I was pretty good at washing my hands. I always took time to make sure every part of my hands were covered in suds, but I definitely wasn’t reaching the twenty-second mark.
I remember flying shortly after 9/11. I flew from Canada down into the US for a music camp I was attending. Although I anticipated a different experience, I certainly didn’t expect to see so many soldiers standing around the airports with rifles.
It definitely unnerved me, more than just a little.
And in the years since 9/11, I have thought “It would be nice to go back to the years before that happened.”
Because things changed after 9/11, in a significant way.
The world became a different place. And not necessarily in a good way.
But with all changes that happen to us, whether individually, nationally, or globally, there are opportunities to improve on things that were not as good as before.
It’s human nature to look over our shoulder and think “we had it better back then.”
Back in the good ol’ days.
We forget about the negative things that the good old days had.
Our memory is fantastic at being selective when we want it to be.
The world is changing, every day.
We are not in control of many, many things. We’d like to think we are, but one of the things that a pandemic like this is good at doing is helping us realize where our weak spots are. And that enables us to take action and strengthen ourselves for another change that will inevitably come.
For millennia, humankind has faced disease, war, famine, and natural disasters. Those of us who lived through them made changes that helped the next wave of humanity improve.
And sometimes humanity forgets about those lessons and needs a reality check.
Like washing your hands properly to prevent the spread of disease.
And learning to care about others as much as you care about yourself.
To give to others when they need something.
Yes, despite the many devastating effects that this pandemic is having, there are good sides and there will be positive outcomes if we are open to them, and willing to change a bit more than we were yesterday.
