I guess I’m making a large leap in assuming that a) you haven’t seen this photo before; and b) you’ve had the Zoom online experience that so many of us have been introduced to in this time of social distancing.

At any rate, this image makes me laugh, and I hope you’ll enjoy it too. Even if you haven’t “Zoomed,” with so many of us worldwide living in isolation, I can tell from various posts that there have been some pretty weird changes in our daily routines. For example: It’s 5 pm. Is it really necessary for me to exchange my pajamas for sweat pants and a T-shirt?

I send good wishes to you all, and hope things are as pleasant as possible as we make our way through the specter of the pandemic during this time of Easter, Passover, Vaisakhi, Vishu, the Bengali and Tamil New Years, the Buddhist Theravada New Year, and Spring.

(I just learned that one of the traditions of Theravada is to build sand castles, with the belief that the waves’ washing away the effort symbolizes the removing of one’s mistakes and enables personal renewal. It’s a reminder of our impermanence, which by coincidence was my theme when I wrote this poem quite recently.)

All these occasions call forth the hope for better days ahead–something that whether or not we follow a religion is sorely needed these days. I am especially thinking of those among us who are in pain, mentally and/or physically, or have suffered a loss.

Though we’re separated, we know what we must do to speed the process that will enable us to emerge from this pandemic and be together once again. To that extent, we do have a measure of control, even if it seems that events have overtaken us.

And then, I fervently hope, we can begin the important efforts to work together–locally, nationally, internationally–to make this a more just world, where we care for one another, ensure that extra attention and resources are provided to those who have been hardest hit,  and at last give Mother Nature her due.

Annie