It was only a few pages from light to dark. Sunday morning, I settle down with my coffee and the Indianapolis Star. Coronavirus has hijacked my consciousness.
Then, light. An article about Hannah Li, a college student who wanted to help kids whose schooling had been interrupted by this crisis. She recruited other college students and created Knowledge Share, a group to tutor kids who needed extra help math, science, social studies, history, English, computer science.
Wow! Empty space created by a crisis — filled with light. A young woman moved by love to take action. My heart was lifted. Then, only a few pages later…an article about Susana Henriquez, mother of three children, 2,4, and 9. Her job of helping install floors in people’s homes has pretty much dried up. She is struggling. Rent, food, medicine? Our government has reached out to help millions of people devastated by this virus, but not Susana. Why? Because, her mother, who is undocumented, lives with her. And the CARES act excludes millions of US citizens from its help if an undocumented person shares their residence.
Wow! Such cruelty. Dark descended on my soul. My heart sank into anger and despair. The government supposedly representing me acting with such meanness.
I struggled. I prayed. Emotions…up one minute and down the next. This is the nature of a crisis. Our hearts and minds struggle to hold together the paradoxes of human existence. Light and dark cohabitate the human soul.
But, with all this confusion, losses of stability and normalcy create opportunity. We have a chance to make choices. We can choose light or we can choose dark.
We can choose the dark by giving into our fear. Our fear will drive us into ourselves and motivate us to exclude others. We can be swallowed by a sense of scarcity. Our fear can increase our cruelty. It will harden our hearts against those who might be different. It will make us vulnerable to manipulation by those who would fan the flames of prejudice and hate. We will lose our moral sensitivity to those whom God loves. Darkness can consume a fearful heart.
Or we can choose light. We can contribute love. We can hear the pain of others who are severely impacted by these devastating circumstances and do what we can to ease pain. We can give what we can. Some of us can give money and food. Some can give time and energy. Some can give insight and hope. Love is the light that can be given.
Love drives out fear. We each have a choice. Life beyond the crisis will be shaped by which choice we make now. I hope more of us choose love and light.