May 25, 2021 Commentary from a moving place

May 25, 2021 Commentary from a moving place: The storm turned. The rain in the morning was light, the sky was a strange shade of grey, the clouds seemed to be showing off the many shades of danger that a cyclone brings. Looking out through the window, there was only a little bit of rain. But that was only Salt Lake. Other areas were not spared as much, a tornado tore through a neighborhood close to where one of the Angels live. Tornados are a part of life in the Appalachian foothills, and much more in other parts of the USA. The pictures of the aftermath of a tornado is always the same – no matter if it is in Bandel or Louisville. The storm kept people indoors. Some waited through the morning, and when the rain was not as bad, some ventured out later in the day, things cannot be put on a greater stop than what the lockdown had already done. But the lockdown seems to have worked somewhat in other parts of India. The streets of Delhi are still empty, but the numbers are starting to come down, and they may “open up” on June 1. Perhaps. The lessons of opening up and throwing caution to the wind are still fresh in our minds, but the seduction of opening up is powerful. The lines at the airports in the USA are growing as it opens up and there is a cheerful return to going places. Life on the screen is coming to an end. The stories of a hopeful future with some predicting a World free of COVID-19 by the end of 2021. Hope. Springs eternal. As it must. Because when a cyclone hits, when news of death overpowers the news of life and a parosmia seems to linger in the nose one turns to the signs of hope. The long waits in security lines at airports, as in the pre-COVID-19 days, seem almost enjoyable or the crowds in the grocery stores appear as signs of hope. Of a World that is no longer masked, and one can see the smiles. The smiles we miss so much. For a long time we have not seen the smile of a stranger as we pass each other, or even the smile of loved ones who protect us from their post-COVID-19 recovery. I remember a time last year; I ran into a colleague in a grocery store and almost did not recognize the person because of the mask. Indeed on the screen we are mask-free, and we see the faces that we have all missed. Smiles and faces. Forget the touch or the handshake. Will we ever do that again? Will there always be a certain hesitation? Have we all become untouchables? For we know not what we carry, what we bring to a meeting, what we pass along unknowingly. This is the post-COVID-19 future. Not just a return to a pre-COVID-19 World but the emergence of a new World where caution may be more vital than comradery, where many will probably realize that there are threats that attack universally – everyone – no one is spared. Thus we are interconnected, and we need to care for each other as a community of people – not just rich people, or poor peoples, or people of a religion or not. When a virus comes it is blind to the differences we have so carefully nurtured for generations. In one fell swoop COVID-19 reminds us, again, “We are the World” as sung by many including Lionel Richie.