How We Cope

A watercolor Facebook group I belong to has put out a call for artists to paint greetings of all sorts. They are asked to send them to adult homes where the elderly and infirm are unable to have visitors due to the Corona Virus pandemic. Addresses were posted. The response has been wonderful, and now pictures from the residents are coming in to confirm the joy those cards are bringing. Some are adorned with cheerful words or uplifting Bible verses. All skill levels are present. It’s a beautiful thing to see.  

My niece, Kari, is a labor and delivery nurse. Designated an essential worker, she’s issued pleas to friends and family to be mindful of what she and her co-workers are exposed to. It’s impossible for a nurse delivering a baby to practice social distancing so instead she warns the rest of us. Stay home until further notice. Healthy hospital workers need us to do that. 

Our Own Designation 

My husband and I have our own designation – elderly. Good grief. We sure don’t feel like it. Yes, we have aches and pains associated with age. But upstairs (tapping the side of my head) we’re just as able and feisty as we always were. If you ask how we’re doing, you may have to hear about the Vietnam War and the gas lines in the 70’s. You may have to her about the red, white and blue ribbons we all made in support of America when we were attacked on 9/11. Perhaps we’ll go even further back and horrify you with stories from our own moms, dads and grandparents who survived WWI, the Great Depression, and WWII. Stuck inside, we’ve had lots of time to pull these memories out and dust them off, which helps us to cope.  

Finding Ways to Cope

Humans find ways to cope, some better than others, but consider this. An invisible force with the capacity to change whole economies, cause death and instill panic has done this to us. So perhaps we need to look to a much stronger, ever-present, invisible force that will come to our aid in such times. Let these comfort you.  

Ecclesiastes 1:9 says, “What has been will be again. What has been done will be done again, there is nothing new under the sun.”  

Psalm 46:10, “Be still and know that I am God.” 

Translation: NIV 

Susan Sundwall writes from New York.

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