These are strange times for the United States; no, strike that - for the entire globe. This Coronavirus, COVID-19, has changed how each and everyone conducts daily business. Nothing is quite the same any longer.
If it is, then you're not following the guidelines. Wash your hands constantly. Sneeze into your elbow. Don't shake hands. Don't hug anyone. Stand six feet apart from any other human. Stay indoors whenever possible. Wear a mask covering your mouth and nose if you dare step outside - some counties in the country have made it a misdemeanor not to follow that last guideline.
How we got here as a world population can be discussed or argued about at a later date. That conversation will surely take up volumes of new books, countless documentaries, and enough politicians blowing hot air at each other to inflate every balloon in the world.
But what about Easter? One of the holiest and important religious days on the calendar for Christians. It's right around the corner - how do we celebrate such a momentous holy day when we are stuck indoors - alone or with a few family members?
During the Spanish Influenza pandemic in 1918, people worshiped indoors and actually maintained social physical distancing from each other. As we are hunkering down now, so did our ancestors during that time period.
The toll of that pandemic, lasting from 1918 to 1919, caused an estimated 50 million deaths world wide, the United States saw at least 675,000 fatalities.
It was a horrific time to be alive, wondering if you would be the following day. But, the human spirit was strong and endured. People stayed home as best they could, didn't gather in large groups, wore masks, and began to practice better sanitation. It all worked.
They celebrated Easter, as well as the other holy days and holidays, avoiding each other but they still celebrated.
Why celebrate when things are going so badly? Because it is the human spirit. There are good times and there are bad times.
Good times are easy to get through. Stock market nearing thirty thousand on the DOW, that is easy to deal with. A promotion at work, really easy to deal with.
But people getting ill and dying from an invisible virus, not so easy. Sadness and despair wreaks havoc in homes and towns. Uncertainty fills the air, but again, the human DNA will kick in and we will move forward, knowing things will get better.
Lives may never really return to normal, but what does that mean in the large scale of things anyway?
When passengers gave up boarding trains in lieu of airplanes, life wasn't really the same. When the horse was given up for the automobile, life wasn't really the same.
So, perhaps, in the future, when this monster of a virus is laid to rest, life will return to something approximating normal but it probably won't be quite the same. It will be a new normal.
And that's okay. It will become the norm in the very near future and the normal we once recognized will be written about in the history books.
So, celebrate Easter at home this year - watch a church service on the television or internet. Worship with those in your own home. Read an uplifting piece of writing - religious or not. Our opinion only, going to church does not require a building or specific denomination - no, worshiping comes from within - no matter what religion. Depending on what source, the word church, actually means where people gather for a common purpose. So, have that church at home.
These are strange times for everyone - but we will get through this and hopefully be better for the trials and tribulations thrown upon all of us.
In the meantime though, the new normal will be fine and we will adjust.
From us to you - Happy Easter
