The COVID 19 pan-epidemic is approximately 3 months old, as I pinch myself to see if I am dreaming or not.
Concurrent to the pandemic outbreak, I moved with my son and his family to a new home more central to downtown Austin, and for the first time since moving to Austin, I began to feel like I was living in Austin. But on May 25th, three days after we moved in, the City of Austin issued a “Stay Home- Work Safe Order” and I have barely been out of the house since.
As I covet solitude, social distancing is welcome. Living in the loving presence of my two grandsons, ages 6 and 3, their parents and my wife is all the company I need. And, having been allotted the ground floor master bedroom (due to my bad knees), I have fashioned a retreat of my own in which to meditate, read, research, and write.
My main concern is that our daughter works on the ‘frontline’ of the pandemic as an emergency room nurse in Austin and Port Arthur, Texas. Austin is in Travis County, which has had nearly 2,000 confirmed cases of COVID-19 and 58 deaths. Although she is where she wants to be and is totally dedicated to her vocation, I worry that she works too hard and sleeps too little. The need to maintain strict ‘social distancing’ means that we sometimes meet in the driveway to talk as a safe distance.
Philosopher, George Santayana, once said, “Those who cannot remember the past are condemned to repeat it.” From this, evolved the often quoted, “Those who do not learn from history are doomed to repeat it.” SO LEARN, PEOPLE, LEARN!
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