It’s not about you…
Gratitude.
It’s something I try to practice every day. Even when life sucks, we can always find at least one thing to be grateful for, right? Maybe gratitude looks differently on different people, and that’s ok, but being grateful for what we have and instead of upset over what we don’t is the key here.
Thanksgiving will certainly look different this year for the majority of the population. I wasn’t planning on going back to Massachusetts for Thanksgiving, but even my family back home is staying apart. Most of my friends (and really just sane people in general) are have immediate family only Thanksgivings. As much as we all hate being apart (and trust me, we all hate it), it’s what’s needed right now.
We are 8+ months into this thing and there’s still no end in sight. It’s easy to point the fingers and pass blame on who’s responsible, but that doesn’t change the fact that it’s still happening. Cases and deaths continue to rise as this new surge happens, and yet people still want to walk around talking about how it’s all a conspiracy and we’re nothing more than “sheep” for wearing a mask. I have several comments for those people, but I’ll try to keep it civil…
If you are still, at more than 8 months of this and numbers rising every day, saying that this whole thing is a hoax, please recognize that it is a slap in the face to every single person who has lost someone or worked countless hours to save people or been separated from family members. While you’re out there complaining because you want to have a drink with friends and get a haircut without being bothered, hospital staff is working around the clock trying to save lives. While you’re bitching and moaning because you “can’t breathe” while wearing a mask, somewhere someone literally cannot breathe because the virus has taken over their body.
It makes me so frustrated when I see people being careless, selfish, and just plain heartless. You miss your families and normal lives? Well guess what… so does everyone else. This isn’t about you. You don’t wear a mask to protect yourself. Newsflash: you do it to protect others. By wearing a mask and socially distancing you are telling those around you, “Hey, I care about your life.” Does it suck being apart from friends and family for so long? OF COURSE! No one is saying that it’s easy, especially not those like me who live alone. I spend the majority of my days talking to myself and trying to get a cat to pay attention to me. None of this is ok, but by being careless and selfish you are doing nothing but prolonging this whole thing.
We all want to be with our families for the holidays. I wrote out Christmas cards this morning and ended ones to my family with, “Hopefully next year things can be different.” I would give anything to be able to see my family for the holidays, but I can’t because it’s safer not to.
We all want the world to go back to normal, but that’s never going to happen if people don’t start thinking about others. It’s time we showed some compassion for those around us and gratitude for what we have. They’re both fairly simple concepts, but it seems that they’ve been lost on some people.
Compassion.
Gratitude.
Love for others.
Let’s all try to practice these things over the next month and then maybe… just maybe… next year will be different.
- Danielle
