The Indomitable Spirit

I did a little shopping and ran some errands this afternoon. Fewer and fewer people are wearing masks, and I confess, that today I was one of them. Although, whenever I’d see someone come nearby, I’d do my best to stay out of the way. I think that for a lot of people, it’ll be that way for a long time to come.

Then, something happened while I was in the check-out lane. Another woman and I started having a conversation. It was over the eye candy things they put there so that you’ll buy more while waiting to leave. Sound boring? Nope. It was a normal conversation. We laughed and our discussion led to other things such as gardening. And yes, we each found something to purchase from the check-out lane.

This is something that hasn’t happened since the beginning of the covid pandemic. We all became too afraid to talk to anyone or come near them. This was great advice! But after 2 years, we have to learn to be social again. Once we can start to do that it’ll be easier to communicate ways to help one another. It’ll be easier to reach out to each other.

But the fear factor is great. How do we learn to trust each other again for anything at all when we’ve been isolated from each other for so long?

I think the answer just begins with talking to a stranger. Talk about anything at all, that part doesn’t matter. Communication is what matters.

Children do it all the time, particularly at school. They play, learn to talk to other children, and make friends. They may argue and even fight sometimes, but as a general rule, for kids that are friends, they settle things and their world is right again.

That’s perplexing for us adults! We rarely play, we tend to avoid talking to other people, and that keeps us shielded away from everyone. If we can’t get this right, how are we going to learn to communicate and make things right for our homes, neighborhoods, cities, states, countries, and others around this big beautiful planet? How can we right ourselves, each other, and even our beautiful planet that we are destroying?

Step one. We all put on our big person pants. Step 2. Talk to someone. Even if it’s a simple Hello with a smile. It may sound corny, but it’s actually a lot of fun. It surprises a lot of people. It always makes my heart feel light!

Step 3 is perhaps the most important. Have fun when you are talking to other humans. Let out some of your inner child and laugh! Be yourself.