How Can I Help?

Every day we are bombarded with news about the coronavirus, how our state is doing, how many people have died, and on and on.

I, along with so many others, am suffering from coronavirus fatigue. We are tired of hearing about it. We are tired of having our lives upended because of this virus and the federal government's bungling of steps to contain it. We are tired of having a public health crisis turned into a political battle.

So I want to do something positive. ""How can I help?" is the question that came to mind recently.

I started to think about what I, as an individual, can do to make things even a tiny bit better during this never-ending pandemic. I'm not a scientist or a public health official or a nurse or a physician. I can't work on a new anti-coronavirus vaccine. I can't make people wear masks or not go to parties. But surely there is something I can do. I think each of us needs to do whatever we can to help.

What I can do is be kind. People are incredibly stressed these days. Tempers are short. People need kindness and compassion. So yesterday morning as I stood in a slow-moving line at the grocery store, I let someone with just a few items go ahead of me. I remained patient despite how slowly the first person in line was moving. I remained patient as I waited several minutes to get a flu shot. I refused to let myself get stressed or irritable. Kindness to others begins with kindness to oneself.

I can, and do, greet fellow walkers I encounter in my neighborhood. With only a couple of exceptions, people return my wave or my greeting.

I chat with store clerks and employees gathering up shopping carts to sanitize them before they are reused. These are dangerous jobs that often go unrecognized. And I will add that as an introvert not prone to greeting strangers, this isn't really a difficult thing to do. Living with this pandemic has made me a friendlier person.

When I was in the hospital recently (both as an in-patient and as an out-patient), I made a point of being kind to my nurses, transport staff, cleaning lady and others with whom I dealt. I even was nice to the respiratory therapist who woke me out of a sound sleep at 2 a.m., although it would have been very easy to be unkind. 

I have donated money to the local food bank (twice) and to Meals on Wheels. It is unconscionable to think that people in America in 2020 are going hungry either because they can't afford food or because they are unable to go shopping. Because so many people have lost their jobs during this pandemic when businesses had to close, the need for food is so much greater than it was just a year ago.

I try to brighten my Facebook page with a beautiful photograph each morning, so my friends can enjoy the beauty of Mother Nature's world. I need beauty, even if only on a computer screen, in this ugly, hate-filled, violent world.

What can you do to help? Can you check on a neighbor? Drive someone to the grocery store or appointment? Check up on friends who live alone (I use e-mail to check on friends who live in Europe)?

Doing something -- anything -- to help another benefits not only the recipient, but the giver as well. Everybody wins.

We can't make this pandemic go away. We can't make people wear masks or act responsibly. But maybe our bit of kindness can make the world a little less sad for someone. And I would bet it will make us feel a bit better, too.