Much Has Been Revealed

We continue along this path of Shelter in Place, Stay at Home; depending on the state in which you live.  For the most part, it has all been bearable but there are definitely days that the feeling of wandering takes hold.  I am aimless and without purpose.  There are always things that could be done but the aimlessness takes hold and I wander.  I wander around the house, around the yard, around the neighborhood.  And my thoughts begin to wander as well.  They quickly go to those who do not have what I have.  There are those who must work, who must stay home with their children, who must take care of the sick and elderly.  This pause in our country has been a giant revelation.  It has laid bare those who work for minimal pay, those who are not given the option to stay home.  It has exposed those who have health care and those who have the financial means to take a pause.  It has revealed those who actually can do their job from home in a spare room or a closet the size of a room in another's house or apartment.  The Greek definition of apocalypse is to reveal.  There are times when this feels like an ending of life as we know it, our small apocalypse.  The differences in class and society have been stripped bare for all to behold.  Look at me who has the time to take an hour walk every morning.  And then look at the migrant workers or landscapers who don their gloves and masks and pray that this virus does not attach itself to them during their shift and that they don't take it home to their families after a long day.  Then look at our millionaire politicians who make decisions about how much money is enough money for all the millions who are living hand to mouth but now the hand has nothing to show for it.  And then look at our small business owners who are trying desperately to redefine what they do and how they do it and to just hold on until it's over.  When it is over, will this revelation have changed anything?  Or will this knowledge that we now hold about the haves and have nots once again be swept under the rug.  Our leaders tell us this is the way our country was designed, this is how it was meant to be.  But yet, this is not how it has to be.  What if?  What if all workers had health care and were paid a living wage?  What if people could choose to leave their cars in the driveway and work from home?  What if people could respect a virus and be willing to protect their fellow humans just because it is the right thing to do?  What if our health care and retail workers were respected for being on the front lines not just today, but every day?  How would the world change if science and data led the way in place of money and profit?  Yes, the wandering mind goes from what is to what could be.  May we spend some time in this revelational apocalypse and think deeply about who we are as a people and who we could be.  What if?