Very poignant reflection ♥️ it’s so hard to believe it’s been 3 years- and there is so much I wish we had learned as individuals and as a collective. Sadly, I can’t say I’m surprised by the way the pandemic polarized us given that we as a country were already polarized and not really holding space for critical conversations with one another. Even now, when the collective capacity for change seems smaller than ever, I continue to have hope- and I think I’m not alone in that- that small groups of people dedicated to growth and change can make all of the difference.
I hold onto hope. Change is coming, but it's going to be a battle, and I wish it weren't. Like I said, we're interdependent, and far too many people don't see that.
It’s sad how quickly it snapped back from appreciating essential workers to polarized politics. I’m an elementary teacher and our kids need us more than ever to help them get caught up. Instead politicians are all focusing on school vouchers!
I keep wanting to point out that if I was really capable of indoctrination my students would never have airpods in their ears when they walk into my room and they would keep their phones put away and they would turn in every assignment on time 🙄
Thank you for this post. I had really hoped that people would learn from this. I also watched in my community as groups that depend on outrage and anger to fundraise slowly went back to that strategy. There was such an initial sense of us all being in it again. In my community, we're more divided than we've ever been before. There are a handful of people who profit from the division.
The pandemic gave each of us individuals to have more time for ourselves and our families. I see now that was a test of so many. I know many young people who are divorcing. I am grateful I was single and was able to devote my life to my calling as a journalist. I'm still putting everything else in my life on my hold to serve my community. I'm a better person for this experience, though one potential cause for the rise in violent crime in my community is the quick pivot from pandemic support to a realization that our support network is in tatters.
Thank you for this post. I think I need to do a lot of writing about this myself but I find so many people have already forgotten those early days. It is crucial we talk about it in the hopes of maybe figuring out how we can still get things right.
Watching what happened in my church community, locally and globally, broke my heart. There is so much we could have learned to make us better. But I still hold onto hope that we so can make a difference.
Everyone here wishes for these lessons, thank you for writing them so beautifully.
As you say Sarah we must continue to hope and move forward. In this time of continued upheaval and polarization ultimately we have to go inside ourselves and, as cliche as it sounds, become our best human so we can go out and spread that around. This takes much more work than we expect!
I couldn't agree more that it makes no sense to play a blame game over the origins of Covid. The "most likely" origin was a lab leak but most likely we will never be able to prove it. I'm afraid the hate mongers will fuel an agenda to seek retribution. I'm afraid because in a military confrontation no one wins.
I agree. Retribution isn't going to fix anything and it is best for us to just learn how to help people recover from the disease. Regardless of how it came out, China already paid a significant economic and personal cost. And our citizens are far too likely to see citizens and country as the same thing, and that leads to dangerous beliefs about people.
We do have agency to turn the tide. We should also recognize that it might get worse before it gets better because not enough choose that path just yet. I do believe that years from now, society will look back in amazement at the pettiness and smallness of so much outrage and false anger.
Very poignant reflection ♥️ it’s so hard to believe it’s been 3 years- and there is so much I wish we had learned as individuals and as a collective. Sadly, I can’t say I’m surprised by the way the pandemic polarized us given that we as a country were already polarized and not really holding space for critical conversations with one another. Even now, when the collective capacity for change seems smaller than ever, I continue to have hope- and I think I’m not alone in that- that small groups of people dedicated to growth and change can make all of the difference.
I hold onto hope. Change is coming, but it's going to be a battle, and I wish it weren't. Like I said, we're interdependent, and far too many people don't see that.
It’s sad how quickly it snapped back from appreciating essential workers to polarized politics. I’m an elementary teacher and our kids need us more than ever to help them get caught up. Instead politicians are all focusing on school vouchers!
I keep wanting to point out that if I was really capable of indoctrination my students would never have airpods in their ears when they walk into my room and they would keep their phones put away and they would turn in every assignment on time 🙄
😂I’m very fortunate to be in a district that is focused on academics! It’s not going incredibly well, but we are trying!!
Us too! But it's still not easy and teenagers will teenage 🤷🏻♀️
Thank you for this post. I had really hoped that people would learn from this. I also watched in my community as groups that depend on outrage and anger to fundraise slowly went back to that strategy. There was such an initial sense of us all being in it again. In my community, we're more divided than we've ever been before. There are a handful of people who profit from the division.
The pandemic gave each of us individuals to have more time for ourselves and our families. I see now that was a test of so many. I know many young people who are divorcing. I am grateful I was single and was able to devote my life to my calling as a journalist. I'm still putting everything else in my life on my hold to serve my community. I'm a better person for this experience, though one potential cause for the rise in violent crime in my community is the quick pivot from pandemic support to a realization that our support network is in tatters.
Thank you for this post. I think I need to do a lot of writing about this myself but I find so many people have already forgotten those early days. It is crucial we talk about it in the hopes of maybe figuring out how we can still get things right.
Watching what happened in my church community, locally and globally, broke my heart. There is so much we could have learned to make us better. But I still hold onto hope that we so can make a difference.
Everyone here wishes for these lessons, thank you for writing them so beautifully.
As you say Sarah we must continue to hope and move forward. In this time of continued upheaval and polarization ultimately we have to go inside ourselves and, as cliche as it sounds, become our best human so we can go out and spread that around. This takes much more work than we expect!
It's such hard work, but I hope it will be worth it, in the end.
I couldn't agree more that it makes no sense to play a blame game over the origins of Covid. The "most likely" origin was a lab leak but most likely we will never be able to prove it. I'm afraid the hate mongers will fuel an agenda to seek retribution. I'm afraid because in a military confrontation no one wins.
I agree. Retribution isn't going to fix anything and it is best for us to just learn how to help people recover from the disease. Regardless of how it came out, China already paid a significant economic and personal cost. And our citizens are far too likely to see citizens and country as the same thing, and that leads to dangerous beliefs about people.
Beautiful reflection. It is hard to have hope because it seems each day, we move further away from a shared world. But perhaps, it will happen.
If we give up hope, what's the point of continuing to try to make the world better? 😊
We do have agency to turn the tide. We should also recognize that it might get worse before it gets better because not enough choose that path just yet. I do believe that years from now, society will look back in amazement at the pettiness and smallness of so much outrage and false anger.
In the meantime, we just keep writing and fighting.