That’s gonna leave a mark…

That’s gonna leave a mark…

You’ve probably heard someone speak of “everything before” a particular day or moment, and “everything after”–usually indicating a massive change in what was considered “normal” life. Throughout this whole COVID mess, it has been amazing to watch things change on such a large scale that it’s hard to even imagine it was ever possible.

I was thinking of other times in my life when something unimaginable changed our way of life, and several observations come to mind.

For starters, how huge and dramatic does an event have to be to literally change the whole world? The mind immediately jumps to large-scale possibilities. World War III. A meteor the size of Manhattan hitting the Earth. The Sun burning out. Aliens. ZOMBIES! Despite this, we’ve seen more than once that it really doesn’t take that much. Of course, terrorists sit around trying to come up with man-made ways to scare us in to believing something could happen. Then a simple microscopic virus comes along and the world shuts down.

In 1989, the US was shaken by a mere 19 people hijacking four airplanes. In 1974, it was the President declaring an Energy Crisis. Each of these incidents were horrific and left a scar…a big one. But with the bad, comes the good.

On “September 12th,” I had never seen such immediate unification of a Nation. You could see it with every car for weeks displaying a USA flag. It seems that when things get bad, it brings out the best in us. Even now amidst this pandemic, as we “social distance” and stay home, I have seen a huge unification as we ALL go through this time together. We adapt, we get creative, we learn. Churches have changed. We sit in our cars in the parking lot listening to the pastor. Work has changed as we do jobs from home. School. Eating. Who knows where restaurants, theaters or gyms will be in 6 months from now. And the list goes on and on.

In the end, it wasn’t due to global warming or icebergs off the coast of California, or methane. It was something invisible…it doesn’t matter WHAT it was. We adapt.

“Every stream’s path is equally influenced by obstacles as it is opportunities.”

I have always said that I believe money just makes you more of who you already are: If you are a generous caring person, more money helps you be even more…but if someone is greedy, demanding and a jerk… More money makes you more of that person. I also believe that in these times of trouble and pain, we learn more about who we are. Do we give up and crawl into a corner? Do we hoard and become ME ME ME? Or do we find ways to help those who need it? I have seen so many examples of people going above and beyond to help others…and not just those we quickly identify as more “needy” than us.

I can safely tell you that more than once in my life, if it wasn’t for family or friends I would have been living on the street. No, I am not exaggerating. Times were so bad and circumstances so seemingly impossible to overcome that I would have caved if it had just been me. We all need each other. Its a two-way street. Situations don’t usually last forever, and it is up to us to be the person that restores others’ faith in humanity.

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