July 27, 2021: We all have promises to keep

July 27, 2021: We all have promises to keep. With or without disasters and pandemics we make commitments. I do for sure, as do many others. These are explicit promises and when we are unable to keep those we turn to excuses. Phone calls to answer. The pandemic has tested us in this as well. Will I be able to do what I had said I would do? For work, for bondhus, for relationships. What happens if I fail? Do I hide behind excuses, drawing from the “mother of all excuses” – the pandemic. I could not deliver because of the pandemic. Or does one say, we will deliver in spite of the pandemic. I met people today who are in the latter category. In the energy of the conversation I realized I am surrounded by people who have accepted that our lives have been changed and whatever bubble we used to live in and want to retreat back into is now gone. And we planned, we talked, we know there will be a new wave of infections soon, and we worked with that in mind. Add in about 2 months to any schedule you make. Then remain flexible, supple, as the young are. But let’s not either be silly in thinking everything is fine and the magic vaccine will stave off the disease. Do people who get the flu vaccine never get the flu? I wonder, and we made promises to each other. Work that we will do. It’s an involved project. There are lots of moving parts in making a movie. I made promises. As I drove back in the monsoon rain, I was thinking of the promises I have made in the past few months. How much did I deliver? Where have I failed? What promises were made to me? How much did others deliver? These are not issues just related to our current circumstances, but these are issues that has been a part of our lives forever and will continue for us in the future. What the pandemic has changed is how we wriggle out of failed promises by using the pandemic as the crutch. I have heard this over and over again, “I could not do it because of the pandemic” or we have to wait, or we are now normal and the pandemic is over (really?) and we will go back to being what it was like in the glorified days before. What I heard from the young professionals today was “we will do it knowing that life has been changed.” This refrain is lacking in some other people I work with and their promises I have difficulty in trusting. Yet we know it can be done. As a World we have lived through this, and I know I have tried to deliver even with a mask silencing my voice. The question is what will it take to deliver the promises I made today. Is it as simple as answering a phone call as I promised, or is it as complex as a fundraiser that I promised I will work on? What happens when other unforeseen events interrupt our lives? Will I still be able to keep the promise of supporting a bondhu to the best of my ability as long as I can? I feel that the pandemic has made me think of how I promise and what I promise. I have learned to remember that bad things will happen, and factor that into what can be delivered. I am still with Robert Frost, “The woods are lovely dark and deep” and you know the rest.